New Stage in Mars Research in Lake Salda

In the research on Lake Salda, carried out by a group of about 30 US scientists together with ITU Faculty of Mines faculty member Prof. Dr. Nurgül Balcı, after the similarity of the lake with the Jezero crater on Mars was determined, a new stage started, focusing on the geological and climatic history of Mars.

A team of scientists, including Prof. Dr. Nurgül Balcı, Istanbul Technical University, Faculty of Mines, Department of Geological Engineering faculty member and the leader of the Geomicrobiology-Biogeochemistry Research Group, and Prof. Dr. Timothy Lysons, University of California faculty member, have entered a new phase in their research on Lake Salda, where they contribute to the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s (NASA) Mars-related studies.

The research team, who previously revealed through their investigations in the protected “White Islands” region of Lake Salda in the Yeşilova district of Burdur that the lake is similar to the Jezero crater on Mars and that the carbonates on Mars are similar to the carbonates there, proceeded to the next stage and started activities to determine the climatic and geological history of Mars.

“Climatic and geological history of Mars”

In the new stage of the research in which Prof. Dr. Balcı and Prof. Dr. Lysons, who have been focusing on Lake Salda to investigate life on Mars since 2019 with the motivation of examining the history of the formation of the Earth in order to discover life on planets, played an active role, scientists who examined the water and sediment samples taken from Lake Salda will use the carbonates in Lake Salda to answer the questions of what the climate of Mars is like, where the water on Mars comes from and why it ran out, and what the chemistry of the water on Mars is like.