‘Mars found on Earth’: It is hiding in a lake no one expected in southwest Turkey
Produced by: Manoj Kumar
Martian Mirror
Lake Salda in Turkey mirrors the mineral makeup of Jezero Crater, giving scientists a rare Earth-based glimpse into Martian geology.
Crater Twin
Its bright white shores hold hydromagnesite—just like minerals spotted by NASA on Mars—making it a scientific proxy for Jezero’s vanished waters.
Microbe Mounds
Rocky microbialites line Salda’s shores, built by ancient microbes. These dome-like relics hint at what early Martian life might’ve left behind.
Carbonate Vault
The lake’s carbonates trap biosignatures—chemical fingerprints of life—just like those scientists now hunt in Martian sediments.
Orbital Echo
NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter spotted carbonates near Jezero in 2019, solidifying Salda’s role as a terrestrial testing ground.
Delta Diary
Both Salda and Jezero feature deltas—sediment fans that record ancient water flow and hint at once-habitable conditions.
Field to Space
Researchers hike Salda’s ridges and scrape its sediments, modeling how Perseverance might decode Mars’s fossilized past.
Water Worlds
Standing on Salda’s shores evokes Jezero’s ancient waves. “It’s like looking into Mars’s mirror,” said planetary scientists.
Biosignature Hunt
From Turkey to Mars, the goal is the same: to find preserved evidence of life’s earliest chapters in carbonate stone.