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

10 - Theikian Era

 

 

The second era emerged after a dramatic shift in the Martian climate. Now sulphate minerals dominated and this era has been labelled the 'Theiikian Era', named after the Greek for sulphate.

The reserchers believe the change in mineral composition was caused by volcanic activity around four billion years ago. With volcanic eruption comes enormous releases of gas, amongst which there is a lot of sulphur. The interaction between the sulphur and water created sulphates.

The rovers 'Spirit' and 'Opportunity' both landed in sulphate-rich regions

   
  Alan Lambert © 2009