Mars group > Research > Magnetic minerals

Magnetic minerals on Mars

Our research is focused on the investigation of the composition of the dust, soil and rocks on Mars, since this composition can tell us a lot about the evolution of Mars. The main goal is to understand the history of water on Mars, since water is believed to be a necessary condition for life to develop and exist.

Some minerals form in water, others in dry environments. By identifying the minerals in the dust, soil and rocks, we can learn about the history of water on Mars. 

Main results of the magnetic properties experiments

So far, the most important results of our magnetic properties experiments have been the following:

• All, or nearly all, the dust in the Martian atmosphere is magnetic, which means, it can be captured on permanent magnets.
  
• The magnetic properties of the dust are caused by the mineral magnetite or possible titanomagnetite.
  
• The minerals olivine and pyroxene are present in the dust.
  
• The mineral hematite is present in the dust.

Magnetite, titanomagnetite, olivine and pyroxene are all generally formed in dry environments, while hematite is generally formed in water.

These findings mean, that the dust particles, as they are now, cannot have formed in liquid water and could not have been exposed to liquid water through long times, since olivine would then have been altered. On the other hand, the presence of hematite suggests that liquid water has taken part in the formation of at least part of the dust.

We have suggested a possible evolutionary scenario of Mars to fit these observations.