rich rocks similar to those of the oldest on Earth continental crust silica were scattered in the place where the vehicle Curiosity NASA landed Mars , according to a study released today by Nature Geoscience.
This discovery will add to the growing evidence that, in the past, Mars it could have been much like the old Earth of what had previously been thought.
rover Curiosity pierced the crater area of Gale , which was formed about 3,600 million years, where light-colored rocks, which contrasted with those of basaltic composition was located in younger regions discovered ago.
continental crust is less dense and different from beneath the oceans composition was believed to be one of the Earth and was attributed to the complex magmatic process possibly related to appearance of tectonic plates.
In the case of the Martian crust was assumed that he had not gone through the magmatic process and therefore should be composed mainly of basalt, although recent missions have discovered the isolated existence of materials rich in silica
An international team analyzed the geochemical data of rocks examined over 22 with ChemCam instrument Curiosity as the vehicle passed through an ancient land near the crater Gale.
The experts, led by Violaine Sautter Museum of Natural History of France, found that the light-colored rocks are rich in silica and are of various compositions.
The composition of some of these rocks is similar to some of the oldest continental material from the ground and were preserved.
The researchers suggest that the light rock and silica rich color can be remains of an ancient Martian crust similar to the first continental crust It was in the Earth , but noted that new data are needed to confirm this.
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