Digging up dirt on Mars reveals past soil secrets

NASA’s Phoenix lander, which perched down on the Red Martian soil late last May, is allowing scientists a key hole view into the long and, what appears to be, a tumultuous topographical history of the planet. Photographs taken by the lander’s in-built high resolution camera has revealed traces of a black, glassy substance under the microscope. Scientists in charge of the microscopic analysis think the material in question might be the remains of some ‘ancient volcanic eruption’.

The miniscule, circular structures are being looked to for a clue to the planet’s history of erosion. "What we are looking at is a history of Martian soil," said Tom Pike of Imperial College London, one of the leading scientists in charge of the microscopic examinations "These particles have been slowly wearing down over millions of years."

Speculations are rife about what may have caused the erosion. But scientists have not yet been able to unearth whether the usual erosive factors, such as wind, rain, sun etc. or something more exotic maybe deemed responsible for the corrosion.

The dark glassy substance recovered from the soil is supposed to be over 4 million years old. Pike admitted that the scientists analyzing the substance are convinced about its significant role in Mars’ past topographical make. "The glassy particles are probably what the soil would start from if we could turn the clock back to what we had at the beginning of an eruption," he said. What furthers this argument is the fact that the particles are ubiquitous in the Martian soil, he added.

This assumption, if found to be accurate, will alter the way geologists have been viewing the Martian soil almost completely. Until now the Martian surface had been mostly considered to be composed of a homogeneously red hued soil.

Past assumptions regarding the soil’s constitution is also on the verge of being uprooted.
The abundant microscopic images taken and transmitted by the lander show the red soil, formerly considered dusty and loose, to be highly cohesive and downright lumpy. "This is obviously a very sticky material right down to the very finest particles," Pike observed.

The gummy character of the soil has often come in the way of the lander’s scheduled operations. Only last week the Phoenix had to abandon its mission to dump fistfuls of soil into its inbuilt Thermal and Evolved Gas Analyzer when the latter’s cohesive character prevented it from falling through the oven entrance as expected.