Mars mineral globe
This unique atlas comprises a series of maps showing the distribution and abundance of minerals formed in water, by volcanic activity, and by weathering to create the dust that makes Mars red.
Together the maps provide a global context for the dominant geological processes that have defined the planet’s history.
The maps were built from ten years of data collected by the OMEGA visible and infrared mineralogical mapping spectrometer on Mars Express.
The animation cycles through maps showing: individual sites where a range of minerals that can only be formed in the presence of water were detected; maps of olivine and pyroxene, minerals that tell the story of volcanism and the evolution of the planet’s interior; and ferric oxide and dust. Ferric oxide is a mineral phase of iron, and is present everywhere on the planet: within the bulk crust, lava outflows and the dust oxidised by chemical reactions with the martian atmosphere, causing the surface to ‘rust’ slowly over billions of years, giving Mars its distinctive red hue.
The map showing hydrated minerals includes detections made by both ESA’s Mars Express and by NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter.
Copyright: Hydrated mineral map: ESA/CNES/CNRS/IAS/Université Paris-Sud, Orsay; NASA/JPL/JHUAPL; Olivine, pyroxone, ferric dust & dust maps: ESA/CNES/CNRS/IAS/Université Paris-Sud, Orsay Orsay; Video production: ESA.
great
Why are so many hydrated mineral sites on the southern hemisphere? I thought the lowlands were mostly in the north and the souht was highly elevated.
Eve Online?
Actually I dont see the problem why we should be able to detect gold or other elemnts on mars via satellite. The problem is that we probably dont have a satellite desgined for this purpose only, in orbit around mars. But it should be possible. Prospecting satelittes are already in use today on earth so why not . If we need that kind of capitalistic goal to get to mars…so be it.
There are two main regions like two continents!
Great video, but I couldn't make out the iron-rich Olivine. Isn't the color too similar to the background?
Also, the hydrated mineral sites appear to be mainly in the canyons. Is this evidence for water on Mars in a distant/near pass?
I'll check that out! I knew that it already a fact that Mars had running water. My question was to find out if the hydrated minerals were part of the body of evidence for that.
tks!
for a real evidence, you need an sample from mars and test it in a earth lab. But there is still water on mars. – You can look for DLRde channel the playerlist 10 years mars express. It gives you an overview of status of science. – They tested micro organisms and found some, that can live on mars aswell.
volcanic region and wash into valley is all the bogart gold and blood diamond lodgic i need,now wheres my banned by corporate law shop vac disc hovercraft,well big players do most the flooded market damage,dont they?
Sadly there's no Hotel yet… (=Q+)…;–))
So Mars doesn’t have gold, steel or other minerals.
happy 7 years!
Is there oil?
This data compilation seems amazing:-). I would like to have this atlas data for my research. May I please know where to access it from?