Table of Contents
JAROSITE FOUND IN ANTARCTICA
- An international team of researchers has found evidence of the mineral jarosite in ice cores extracted from Antarctica.
- In their paper published in the journal Nature Communications, the researchers describe how the discovery came about and
- why they believe it could bolster theories regarding the presence of the same mineral on the surface of Mars.
ABOUT JAROSITE
- Jarosite is a basic hydrous sulfate of potassium and iron with a chemical formula of KFe3+3(OH)6(SO4)2.
- It is formed in ore deposits by the oxidation of iron sulfides.
ABOUT JAROSITE
- Jarosite is often produced as a byproduct during the purification and refining of zinc. It is generally seen in mining waste that has been exposed to air and rain.
- Jarosite is very rarely found on Earth.
HOW DID THEY FIND IT?
- The researchers were not looking for it in their ice cores, they were focused on minerals in deep ice cores that might help to better understand ice age cycles.
- But when they came across the yellow-brown mineral, their interest was piqued.
- X-ray absorption testing and electron microscopy showed it be jarosite.
- The researchers suggest the mineral formed in ice pockets that also held small amounts of dust.
WHY IS THIS SIGNIFICANT?
- The finding brought to mind another site where jarosite is found—the surface of Mars. It was found there by the Opportunity rover back in 2004 and has been found to be abundant.
WHY IS THIS SIGNIFICANT?
- Finding jarosite on Mars created a lot of excitement at NASA and around the world, because prior research had shown that water must be present for jarosite formation.
JAROSITE LINKS TO WATER ON MARS
- The discovery of jarosite on Mars led scientists to come up with theories to explain how it might have originated.
- Some suggested it might have been left behind as salty water evaporated.
- Others suggested that Mars might have been covered by a massive ice blanket billons of years ago. And jarosite could have formed in ice pockets.
THEORIES COULDN’T BE TESTED
- At the time the theory was formulated, it was difficult to test because it had never been found to form that way anywhere else, including Earth.
DISCOVERY ON EARTH CHANGES EVERYTHING
- Now that jarosite has been found deep in Antarctic ice, the latter theory will likely become the most prominent.
- The researchers note that the theory still has one glitch—the ice in Antarctica contains very small amounts of jarosite—on Mars, the mineral is found in large slabs.
- The researchers suggest that the difference might be explained by the huge amounts of dust on the Martian surface.
THE FUTURE
- Baccolo wants to use Antarctic cores to investigate whether ancient martian ice deposits were cauldrons for the formation of other minerals.
- He says jarosite shows how glaciers weren’t just land carving machines, but might have contributed to Mars’s chemical makeup.
THE FUTURE
- “This is just the first step in linking deep Antarctic ice with the martian environment.”
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