Martian dust, which is the dust that covers most of the martian surface, has perplexed scientists for many years. A new research suggests that this martian dust comes from a geological formation called the Medusae Fossae Formation. The study, published recently in the journal Nature Communications, reports that the formation is nearly thousand-kilometer long and that the dust matches the surface feature of the formation chemically.
Kevin Lewis, assistant professor of Earth and planetary science at the Johns Hopkins University and one co-author of the study said, “Mars wouldn’t be nearly this dusty if it wasn’t for this one enormous deposit that is gradually eroding over time and polluting the planet, essentially.”
Dust on Mars proves to be really problematic for many space missions- take the Spirit Mars rover for example. If the stuff enters into expensive instruments and solar panels, which eventually leads to the failure of the equipment.
While on Earth, dust caused by rock erosion is mostly separated by wind, water, glaciers, volcanoes etc., but Martian dust is rarely prevented by water streams and moving glaciers. The resultant fragments of meteor impacts do not resemble the fine particles of martian dust.
“How does Mars make so much dust, because none of these processes are active on Mars?” said lead author Lujendra Ojha, who is a postdoctoral fellow working in Lewis’ lab. These factors cannot be responsible for the large cover of dust that surrounds the Red Planet.
When the reserach team anlaysed the dust samples for its chemical composition, their finding supported what most rovers and landers have previously reporrted about Martian dust- that it contains a considerable amount of chlorine and sulfur. “Dust everywhere on the planet is enriched in sulfur and chlorine and it has this very distinct sulfur-to-chlorine ratio,” added Ojha
After studying the data collected by Martian spacecraft Odyssey, the research team saw that the Medusae Fossae Formation chemical composition was also largely made up of chlorine and sulfur and match that of the dust that covers Mars.
Martian dust does not bode well for the climate on Mars too, since these fine dust particles are absorbed by solar radiation and lead to high temperatures in the Martian atmosphere and comparatively lower temperatures at the surface level- which then causes to strong dust storms.