Scientists from the various Institutes in India, have been been studying haematite concretions in the Kutch region of Gujarat.
- The team has been studying the Jhuran formation in Kutch which is between 145 and 201 million years old.
- The haematite concretions in Jhuran area revealed that they resemble the ones on Mars.
- The Jhuran formation have similar morphology – spherical, often doublet and triplet – and similar mineralogy – a mixture of haematite and goethite.
- According to a study published in the ‘Planetary and Space Science’ journal, the Jhuran and Martian concretions share similar textural attributes and are of comparable size, but are geochemically different.
- The Jhuran concretions are most commonly mixtures of goethite and hematite, and not pure hematite.
- The study concludes that the Jhuran iron concretions most likely formed due to sedimentary diagenetic processes, similar to inferences from other Martian analogue localities. (https://bit.ly/3qNDlrh)
- NASA’s Mars exploration rover ‘Opportunity’ in 2004 had found on mars small spheres of blueberries made of iron oxide compounds called haematites.
- The presence of haematites suggests that there was water present on Mars.
- Haematite is known to form in oxidising environments.
(Source: The Hindu and Science Direct)
For further reading click: https://bit.ly/3qNDlrh
(The news have been edited)
