Mars Mission
01- Canals
02- Mariners
03- Riverbeds
04- Sub-surface Ice
05- Fleet
06- Martian Ice
07- Slope Streaks
08- Water Found
09- Phyllocian Era
10- Theikian Era
11- Siderikan Era
12- Martian Regions
13- Obliquity
14- Martian Tectonics
15- Topographic Morph
16- Crustal Magnetism
17- Original Impact
18- Polar Regions
19- Hydrated Minerals
20- Theikian Warming
21- New Phoenix Snow
22- Equatorial Glaciers
23- Ancient Ice
24- Continental Snow Drift

9 - Phyllocian Era

Mars after Kensett and Gifford

 

By April of 2006 mineral deposits, such as those found by the rovers, enabled scientists to establish a new geological history of Mars.

The planet's history is now defined in three distinct geological periods, corresponding to the dominant minerals that were present.

 The first age, the Phyllocian era, lasted from just after the planet's birth to about four billion years ago. Ancient rocks show the presence of clay-rich minerals - phyllosilicates - which, to form, would have required a water-abundant alkaline environment.

   
  Alan Lambert © 2009