Almost all the dust on Mars comes from one place

Mars is the fourth planet of our Sun and is famous for its exquisite reddish appearance. The surface of Mars is very cold and dry and covered with dust rich in iron oxide, giving the planet its iconic red color.

Recently, researchers have observed a fascinating new fact about the surface of Mars and the dust that is there. The dust that is abundant on the surface of Mars comes largely from a single source and the source is located near the equator of the red planet. This geological formation of a thousand kilometers is called Medusae Fossae Formation. The composition of this feature is similar to that of dust in the atmosphere of Mars.

"Mars would not be so dusty if it were from this huge deposit that gradually erodes over time and pollutes the planet, essentially. "Co-author Kevin Lewis of Johns Hopkins University said.

As neighboring planets, Earth and Mars have a lot in common, both of which have a similar rock composition and structure and orbit all the sun in its circumstellar habitable zone Even Mars had water on its surface that probably contributed to the global reservoir of dust on the planet.

On Earth, dust is separated from soft rock formations by forces such as wind, water, glaciers, volcanoes and meteors the case with Mars The present Mars is geologically inactive and very inhospitable

"How is Mars doing so much dust, because None of these processes is active on Mars? "Lead author of the study Lujendra Ojha said.

To answer this question, the researchers examined the chemical composition of the dust of March Landers and rovers eloig born on the planet have shown that dust all over Mars is enriched with sulfur and chlorine. When the researchers studied the data captured by the Mars Odyssey spacecraft, they were also able to identify its source. They found that the Medusae Fossae Formation on Mars has an abundance of sulfur and chlorine. Its ratio also corresponds to the very net sulfur-chlorine ratio found in the dust of Mars.

The expert Kevin Lewis says. "That simply explains, potentially, a big part of how Mars got to its current state."