bearing Carbonates On Mars And Early Earth
Researchers have discovered that trace amounts of manganese in carbonate minerals can lower their band gap, allowing for photochemical reactivity on early Earth and Mars. This suggests that manganese oxides could have formed abiotically without free oxygen.
Why it matters
This finding challenges existing models of planetary evolution and how we interpret the history of oxygen and life on Mars and Earth.
Manganese oxides, thought to form almost exclusively through reactions between Mn 2 + and O 2 , catalyze oxidative transformations among redox-sensitive metals.
The article is a summary of peer-reviewed scientific research.
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