Minerals

Minerals are natural resources needed as raw material for setup and extension of settlements on Mars. From recent unmanned missions some valuable minerals have been found in the regolith, most of them by the Mössbauer spectrometer MIMOS II. The atmospheric dust contains minerals, which allows atmospheric mining. The crust is enriched in iron. It is rich in chlorine, sulphur, potassium and phosphorus (as well as other volatile elements).

The most common elements making up Mars' crust are: silicon, oxygen, iron, magnesium, aluminum, calcium, & potassium. The elements sulphur, phosphorus, sodium, boron, chlorine, and bromine are needed for life and have been found on the planet.

Overview:

Mars is fundamentally a igneous planet, made up of magma and minerals caused by the erosion of lava. These include plagioclase feldspar, pyroxenes and olivine (all basalt based minerals). Magnetite has been found. Opportunity found what is likely titanomagnetite (titanium rich magnetite).

In the presence of water, olivine gradually weathers into clays, which are common on Mars, especially in the northern low lands.

In the southern highlands, low calcium (ortho-) pyroxenes are present. These have a higher melting temperature, which suggests that the older highlands had higher temperature lavas than areas of more recent volcanism.

Intermediate and felsic rocks are present on Mars, but seem to be fairly rare. These include quartz rich dacites and granitoids which have been found by spacecraft in Syrtis Major and near the crater Antoniadi.

Curiosity found hydrated minerals, including calcium sulphate (gypsum), and siderite (FeCO₃).Cite error: Closing </ref> missing for <ref> tag