Opportunity Rover Finds Intriguing New Spherules at Cape York

Mosaic image of the spherules in the rock outcrop on Cape York at Endeavour crater. Credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / Stuart Atkinson

One of the most interesting discoveries made so far by the Opportunity rover on Mars has been the small round spherules or “blueberries” as they are commonly referred to, covering the ground at the rover’s landing site. Typically only a few millimetres across, some lie loose on the soil while others are imbedded in rock outcrops.

Analysis by Opportunity indicates that they are most likely a type of concretion, which are also found on Earth. These Martian concretions have been found to contain the mineral hematite, which explains its detection in this region from orbit, and one of the main reasons that the rover was sent to this location in Meridiani Planum in the first place. They are similar to the Moqui Marbles, iron-oxide concretions in the outcrops of Navajo Sanstone in Utah, which formed in groundwater.

Now, the rover (eight years later and still going!) has found what may be a different type of spherule. (…)
Read the rest of Opportunity Rover Finds Intriguing New Spherules at Cape York (359 words)

© Paul Scott Anderson for Universe Today, 2012. | Permalink | No comment |
Post tags: Mars, Opportunity Rover

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