As NASA ’s Curiosity rover scours the Martian surface in search of signs that Mars was once open of fostering complex life , a team of researchers from the University of Poitiers , France , and Caltech have issued apaperthat casts serious dubiousness on the notion that the planet was once habitable .
The Modern possibility , which was published in Nature Geoscience , indicate that clay establish on the Martian surface was formed in water - rich magma — water that would be way too red-hot to support aliveness .
To make their instance , a enquiry squad led by Alain Meunier studied cadaver minerals and rock collect from an quondam A - bomb tryout web site in Gallic Polynesia . The geologists discovered that the clay minerals bore a remarkable resemblance to the ones observed on Mars . But unlike the South Pacific clays , which were mathematical product of weathering by fluid piddle , the ones on Mars were formed directly from water supply - plentiful molten rock as they cool off .
Reporting for the BBC , Jonathan Amosexplains further :
It is interesting because it strike at the heart of the belief that the Red Planet was awash with weewee , perhaps at its Earth’s surface , more than 3.75 billion years ago – an musical theme that has been put forward to explain the with child abundance of some clay deposits watch from sphere by satellites .
However , the outgrowth of cadaver yield at Mururoa , if replicated and widespread on early Mars , would off the need for such large volume of water , and with it possibly a more benign environment for lifespan to establish itself on the planet .
“ Mars was not as warm and wet in its earliest time as some have suggested . I do not believe in an early ocean on Mars , ” Prof Meunier distinguish BBC News .
But [ The Mururoa summons ] explain only the early generation of cadaver on Mars , in the other Noachian period . In posterior menstruum , liquid water has existed on Mars ’ surface ; that is doubtless the typeface . ”
And as the LA Times ’ Amina Khannotes , this has serious implications for Martian habitability :
On Earth , remains are remarkably good at trapping organic material . So if constitutional compounds exist on Mars , clays would be a good place to rule them .
If either of the prevailing theories about water is true , the Martian environs could have been hospitable for life , Ehlmann said . Superheated water system and magma ? Not so much .
“ The clays would mold as the lava cools from 1,500 degrees Anders Celsius , ” she said . “ That would not be a sound habitat . ”
But as Khan notes , the study leaves a figure of questions unanswered :
“ It ’s surely a unlike take on trying to excuse the pedigree of some mud minerals on Mars , ” [ said world scientist Ralph Milliken ] “ It does have some merit , and alternative hypotheses call for to be consider amply . ”
But he allege the news report laid out in the new paper does n’t explain why the Martian control surface appears to have rails make out by flow liquid . Nor does it describe for blueberry bush - shape mineral deposits of haematite that scientists believe may have formed when water run past them .
Again , Meunier is not claim that control surface water has never existed on Mars — merely that it was n’t present during its other Noachian period ( a time that might have been vital to the spawning of life ) . The jury , therefore , is still very much out on this one .
Read the integral paperhere .
Other sources : BBC .
Top image : A three - dimensional image of the Nili Fossae area of Mars showing clays presence of abundant clays mineral ( in Battle of Magenta and blue hue ) via NASA / JPL / JHUAPL .
AstrobiologyastrogeologyExogeologyMarsScienceWater on Mars
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