[ExI] curiosity and mno2

[spike]

Curiosity has discovered manganese oxide on Mars.  We know how that forms
here: atmospheric oxygen or microbes.  So how did Mars get MnO2?

 

An intriguing suggestion has been made by the Los Alamos scientists: during
the periods where Mars' magnetic field went to nearly nothing, solar
radiation ionized atmospheric water, ionizing it, then the hydrogen ions
being lighter were driven out of the atmosphere, leaving the oxygen ions
free to react with their favorite locally available materials, which would
be any alkaline metals first, probably manganese second, iron third?  That
makes sense, ja?

 

spike

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