Meerschaum from Mars?

[DaleB]

It seems that the perseverance rover has found dozens of minerals on Mars, including sepiolite - which can occur in the form of meerschaum.

NASA reveals MULTIPLE life forms likely lived on Mars

Scientists have found strong evidence that Mars was inhabited multiple times. The team identified 24 minerals that pointed to environments potentially suitable for life.

www.dailymail.co.uk

Sepiolite, a common alteration mineral on Earth, formed under moderate temperatures and alkaline conditions and was widely distributed across all explored areas.

 

[deluxestogie]

Although the actual content of your linked article appears to accurately reflect current data from the mineral findings on Mars, the article's headline is clearly misleading. I suspect that some life forms existed on Mars in the distant past, though there is no convincing proof of that.

Taken by Perseverance rover 18 SEP 2025. This resembles stromatolite.

Now, if the Perseverance rover photographed a nice, bent meerschaum pipe, alongside a suitable tamper and pipe stand, then we would really have something to celebrate. Of course, whatever existed on Mars during its potentially habitable past has subsequently been sandblasted for a couple of billion years.

Bob

 

[DaleB]

I think it's very unlikely that there wouldn't have been some form of life there if there were actually large bodies of water for long periods of time as these discoveries indicate. That said, I agree that the title seems to sensationalize a bit - as it seems most do these days.