Magnesium sulfate constituents of evaporitic potassium-magnesium (K-Mg) salts deposits. Bright spots observed by the Dawn Spacecraft in Occator Crater on the dwarf planet Ceres are most consistent with reflected light from magnesium sulfate hexahydrate. Almost all known mineralogical forms of MgSO are hydrates. Epsomite is the natural analogue of "Epsom salt". Another heptahydrate, the copper-containing mineral alpersite (Mg,Cu)SO·7HO, was recently recognized. Both are, however, not the highest known hydrates of MgSO, due to the recent terrestrial find of meridianiite, MgSO·11HO, which is thought to also occur on Mars. Hexahydrite is the next lower (6) hydrate. Three next lower hydrates—pentahydrite, starkeyite, and especially
Seasonal flows on warm Martian slopes water, most are not, and many appear at temperatures as low as . Some scientists think that under these cold conditions, a brine of iron(III) sulphate (Fe(SO)) or calcium chloride () is the most likely mode of RSL formation. Another team of scientists, using the CRISM instrument onboard MRO, reported that the evidence for hydrated salts is most consistent with the spectral absorption features of magnesium perchlorate (Mg(ClO)), magnesium chloride (MgCl(H2O)) and sodium perchlorate (). Experiments and calculations demonstrated that recurring slope lineae could be produced by the deliquescence and rehydration of hydrous chlorides and oxychlorine salts. However, under present