Mars: Was the Red Planet once blue?
From the analysis of a Martian meteorite, scientists conclude that the planet was covered by a 300-metre-deep ocean in its youth. A sign of life?
Most astrophysicists agree that there was once liquid water on Mars. What is disputed, however, is how much water there was. A research team from the University of Copenhagen has now concluded in a new analysis that the planet may have been covered by a 300-metre-deep ocean about 4.5 billion years ago. The study was published in the journal Science Advances". So was the Red Planet once blue and may have harboured life?
"Mars, which was still young, was bombarded with asteroids filled with ice in its early stages," says Martin Bizzarro of the Centre for Star and Planet Formation at the University of Copenhagen, one of the study's lead authors. "This happened within the first 100 million years of planetary evolution." In addition to water, the icy asteroids would also have brought biologically relevant molecules such as amino acids. They are found in all living things known so far and serve as building blocks for proteins. "Although the rate of preservation of biologically relevant molecules depends on a number of factors, our results provide evidence that exotic organic matter has reached the Martian surface," the authors write. . The researchers were able to reconstruct the early history of Mars using a billion-year-old meteorite. The meteorite was once part of the Martian crust and offers a unique insight into what happened at the time of the formation of the solar system. The chromium isotopes it contains provide information about the nucleosynthetic history and time scales of the formation of planetary deposits. The secret lies in the way the surface of Mars was formed, of which the meteorite was once a part, the study says, because the surface does not move. On Earth, the opposite is true. The tectonic plates are in constant motion. As a result, all traces of the first 500 million years of Earth's history have been erased.
So the Martian meteorites provide clues to the composition of the original Martian crust, including the existence of exotic material on the surface of the planet. How deep the ocean of liquid water might once have been on Mars is inferred by the scientists from their geochemical analyses and subsequent computer-assisted modelling.
The Martian meteorites also provide clues to the composition of the original Martian crust, including the existence of exotic material on the planet's surface.
Only recently, an international research team led by Neil Arnold of the Scott Polar Research Institute at the University of Cambridge in the journal Nature Astronomy made the data-driven suggestion that there could still be liquid water under the ice of Mars' south pole today.
Spectrum of Science
We are a partner of Spektrum der Wissenschaft and want to make sound information more accessible to you. Follow Spektrum der Wissenschaft if you like the articles .
Originalartikel auf Spektrum.deTitelbild: Shutterstock, Larich
Experts from science and research report on the latest findings in their fields – competent, authentic and comprehensible.