Why is Planet “Mars” Red

Planet Mars is Red

When we see planet Mars from our earth it appears to be Red. For most of the planets, the red layer only covers a couple of millimeters & at its deepest, two meters. The red color comes from various oxides of iron in very, very fine particles, and trace amounts of other elements including titanium, chlorine and sulfur.

One possible way the dust was created was by harder basalt rocks, which contain more feldspar, grinding against the softer basalt to create fine dust particles. All of that iron had to come from somewhere: volcanoes. The best information that we have is that the surface of mars below the red layer is made up of hardened, low viscose lava: basalt. The concentration of iron in Mars’ basalt is higher than that of Earth, which is why Earth is much less red and that is why Mars is red.

Filed under: Mars, Planets


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