Methane, Organic Molecules and Minerals on Mars found by Perseverance and Curiosity Rovers

Perseverance and Curiosity have confirmed that Methane and Organic Minerals exist in quantity on Planet Mars! So too, does a Mineral named "Olivine"... What is Olivine, You ask?

Olivine is named for its typically olive-green color, thought to be a result of traces of nickel,[citation needed] though it may alter to a reddish color from the oxidation of iron.

Translucent olivine is sometimes used as a gemstone called peridot (péridot, the French word for olivine). It is also called chrysolite (or chrysolithe, from the Greek words for gold and stone), though this name is now rarely used in the English language. Some of the finest gem-quality olivine has been obtained from a body of mantle rocks on Zabargad Island in the Red Sea.

Olivine occurs in both mafic and ultramafic igneous rocks and as a primary mineral in certain metamorphic rocks. Mg-rich olivine crystallizes from magma that is rich in magnesium and low in silica. That magma crystallizes to mafic rocks such as gabbro and basalt.[13] Ultramafic rocks usually contain substantial olivine, and those with an olivine content of over 40% are described as peridotites. Dunite has an olivine content of over 90% and is likely a cumulate formed by olivine crystallizing and settling out of magma or a vein mineral lining magma conduits.[14] Olivine and high pressure structural variants constitute over 50% of the Earth's upper mantle, and olivine is one of the Earth's most common minerals by volume.[15] The metamorphism of impure dolomite or other sedimentary rocks with high magnesium and low silica content also produces Mg-rich olivine, or forsterite.

Fe-rich olivine fayalite is relatively much less common, but it occurs in igneous rocks in small amounts in rare granites and rhyolites, and extremely Fe-rich olivine can exist stably with quartz and tridymite. In contrast, Mg-rich olivine does not occur stably with silica minerals, as it would react with them to form orthopyroxene ((Mg,Fe) 2Si2O6).

Mg-rich olivine is stable to pressures equivalent to a depth of about 410 km (250 mi) within Earth. Because it is thought to be the most abundant mineral in Earth's mantle at shallower depths, the properties of olivine have a dominant influence upon the rheology of that part of Earth and hence upon the solid flow that drives plate tectonics. Experiments have documented that olivine at high pressures (e.g., 12 GPa, the pressure at depths of about 360 km (220 mi)) can contain at least as much as about 8900 parts per million (weight) of water, and that such water content drastically reduces the resistance of olivine to solid flow. Moreover, because olivine is so abundant, more water may be dissolved in olivine of the mantle than is contained in Earth's oceans.

Olivine pine forest (a plant community) is unique to Norway. It is rare and found on dry olivine ridges in the fjord districts of Sunnmøre and Nordfjord." Read more at WIkipedia.com

Here is NASA's Video Description!

"On November 16, 2021 NASA declared that Perseverance Mars Rover detected greenish mineral olivine and Curiosity Rover previously found Methane on Mars after analysis of Mars Sample. Organic molecules contain carbon and hydrogen, and also may include oxygen, nitrogen and other elements. Organic molecules in 3-billion-year-old sedimentary rocks near the surface, as well as seasonal variations in the levels of methane in the atmosphere -- appear in the June 8 edition of the journal Science. Water-rock chemistry might have generated the methane, but scientists cannot rule out the possibility of biological origins. Methane previously had been detected in Mars' atmosphere in large, unpredictable plumes. New scientific results show that low levels of methane within Gale Crater repeatedly peak in warm, summer months and drop in the winter every year." NASA

Credit: nasa.gov, NASA/JPL-Caltech, NASA/JPL-Caltech/ASU

I hope this provides you with some interesting results that Curiosity and Perseverance are finding on the 4th Rock from our Sun - MARS
Kerry
______________________________________________________________________________