In Hot Water

After learning about Martian selenite, I visited the Delta Lab near Gordo Station.

It's actually a working mine dug into the side of Jezero Crater's fan delta. The delta was deposited by a river millions of years ago.

The lab is a long pressurized tunnel with side rooms and side tunnels meandering through the ancient crust. Most of the Jezero geologists and biologists live and work there.

The Delta Lab has a thriving "free market." Just inside the main airlock, they have a table setup where everything is free. If you have an old sweater you want to dump, throw it on the table. Someone is sure to want it.

If you want to turn a cool rock into jewelry for your mom, check the table for samples.

As I expected, I spotted several bowls of stones among the discarded hats, paint cans, and assorted tubes. Some rocks had labels and some didn't. I guess they assumed that a lab full of geologists wouldn't need to label their findings.

I never found out what this was.  Any ideas?

My science teacher said this was probably hematite.

This is quartz.  Very pretty.

I found out later that this one is called "Tiger's Eye."

One that caught my eye was prehnite. My tablet said "Prehnite contains calcium, aluminum, and silica. It is generally formed at low temperatures in hydrothermal environments."

Hydrothermal means "hot water."  Wow! So Mars had hot water vents back in the dim past? My biology teacher said that some kinds of Earth organisms thrive in hot water vents.

I wonder if Mars ever had these kinds of creatures? Maybe they still exist somewhere in an underground hot spring?

I looked down the long tunnel and wondered what they might find at the end.

Prehnite from a hot water vent.