Scientists imagine that the sediments across the lake eroded from massive mounds which might be shaped with the assistance of microbes
As NASA’s rover Perseverance explores the floor of Mars, scientists trying to find indicators of ancient life on the distant planet are utilizing knowledge gathered on a mission a lot nearer to dwelling at a lake in southwest Turkey.
NASA says the minerals and rock deposits at Salda are the closest match on earth to these across the Jezero Crater the place the spacecraft landed and which is believed to have as soon as been flooded with water.
Information gathered from Lake Salda may assist the scientists as they seek for fossilised traces of microbial life preserved in sediment thought to have been deposited across the delta and the long-vanished lake it as soon as fed.
“Salda…will serve as a powerful analogue in which we can learn and interrogate,” Thomas Zurbuchen, NASA affiliate administrator for science, informed Reuters.
Professor Latif Kurt of Ankara University and Umit Turan from Turkish Environment Ministry examine the shoreline of Salda Lake in Burdur province, Turkey, March 1, 2021.
| Photo Credit:
REUTERS
A staff of American and Turkish planetary scientists carried out analysis in 2019 on the shorelines of the lake, referred to as Turkey’s Maldives due to its azure water and white shores.
Scientists imagine that the sediments across the lake eroded from massive mounds which might be shaped with the assistance of microbes and are referred to as microbialites.
The staff behind the Perseverance rover, essentially the most superior astrobiology lab ever flown to one other world, desires to discover out whether or not there are microbialites in Jezero Crater.
They may even evaluate the seaside sediments from Salda with carbonate minerals — shaped from carbon dioxide and water, a key ingredient for life — detected on the margins of Jezero Crater.
“When we find something at Perseverance we can go back to look at Lake Salda to really look at both processes, (looking at) similarities but equally importantly differences that are really between Perseverance and Lake Salda,” Zurbuchen mentioned. “So we are really glad we have that lake, just because I think it will be with us for a long time”.
Samples of rock drilled from Martian soil are to be saved on the floor for eventual retrieval and supply to Earth by two future robotic missions, as early as 2031.
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