Categories: Mars

A Cold and Wet History on Early Mars?

 

[/caption]

Even if an early Mars never got above freezing, the brine on its surface could have stayed liquid and supported life, a new study says.

Lead author Alberto G. Fairen, of NASA Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, California, and his colleagues have analyzed the behavior of Martian chemical concentrations found at various mission landing sites, and revealed that warm temperatures wouldn’t have been necessary to support salt-loving life forms.

The authors point out that many features on the Martian surface are believed to have been formed by flowing water and related mineral activity on the surface. Water is a key ingredient for life, but models were having a hard time envisioning a Mars warm enough to support it.

Much evidence has indicated surface temperatures well below freezing.

According to the new study, life may have fared all right anyway.

“Solutes could depress the melting point of water in a frozen Martian environment, providing a plausible solution to the early Mars climate paradox,” the authors write.

Fairen and his colleagues modeled the freezing and evaporation processes of Martian fluids with a composition resulting from the weathering of basalts, as reflected in the chemical compositions at Mars landing sites of Viking 1, Mars Pathfinder, and the rovers Spirit and Opportunity.

“Our results show that a significant fraction of weathering fluids loaded with Si, Fe, S, Mg, Ca, Cl, Na, K and Al remain in the liquid state at temperatures well below 273 K,” or nearly 32 degrees Fahrenheit (zero C), they write.

“This stability against freezing of Martian fluids can explain saline liquid water activity on the surface of Mars at mean global temperatures well below 273 K.”

Photo credit: NASA

Source: Nature

Anne Minard

Anne Minard is a freelance science journalist with an academic background in biology and a fascination with outer space. Her first book, Pluto and Beyond, was published in 2007.

Recent Posts

How Could Astronauts Call for Help from the Moon?

Exploring the Moon poses significant risks, with its extreme environment and hazardous terrain presenting numerous…

10 hours ago

There Was a 15 Minute Warning Before Tonga Volcano Exploded

Volcanoes are not restricted to the land, there are many undersea versions. One such undersea…

11 hours ago

Main Sequence and White Dwarf Binaries are Hiding in Plain Sight

Some binary stars are unusual. They contain a main sequence star like our Sun, while…

12 hours ago

What a Misplaced Meteorite Told Us About Mars

11 million years ago, Mars was a frigid, dry, dead world, just like it is…

15 hours ago

Uranus is Getting Colder and Now We Know Why

Uranus is an oddball among the Solar System's planets. While most planets' axis of rotation…

18 hours ago

How Scientists Repurposed a Camera on ESA’s Mars Express Mission

A camera aboard the Mars Express orbiter finds a new lease on life. Sometimes, limitations…

20 hours ago