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Published online 6 May 2004 | Nature | doi:10.1038/news040503-6
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How Mars got its rust
Model explains why the red planet is so red.
Why is Mars so much rustier than the Earth? The red planet has more than twice as much iron oxide in its outer layers as our own, yet most planet scientists reckon the two bodies were formed from the same materials.
David Rubie and colleagues from the University of Bayreuth, Germany, say they have an answer: the intense heat inside the early Earth was enough to convert a lot of iron oxide into molten metallic iron, which seeped down into the planet to form a huge liquid core.
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