The possibility of life on Mars is something scientists and astronomers have been trying to figure out for decades. With rapid advancements in science in the last century, scientists have stumbled across various clues as to how and where life could be hidden on the red planet.
While meteorites, liquid water and water ice at the planet’s poles have hinted that the planet may once have been ideal for life, new research suggests that the thick, mineral-rich layers of clay were ideal for life to survive for a long time. These layers, which are said to have formed about 3.7 billion years ago, had warmer and wetter conditions than the rest of the planet.
Researchers say they analysed 150 clay deposits using NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter and analysed their shape and locations to see how they resembled ancient lakes and rivers on the planet.
In a statement to Space.com, Rhianna Moore, a researcher and postdoctoral fellow at the University of Texas’ Jackson School of Geosciences, said, “These areas have a lot of water but not a lot of topographic uplift, so they’re very stable. If you have a stable terrain, you’re not messing up your potentially habitable environments.” For those wondering, deposits like these on Earth can be found in certain landscapes and climatic conditions.
Researchers say they noticed that most of the clay layers were formed in low areas near ancient lakes, but they weren’t close to the valleys where water once flowed. In a new study published in the journal Nature Astronomy, scientists say these clay minerals were found in areas where chemical weathering was favoured over physical erosion.”
Since tectonic activity is pretty much non-existent on Mars, CO2 released by volcanoes on Mars likely stayed in the planet’s atmosphere for a long time, making it warmer and wetter. This may have also contributed to the formation of the clay layers. Speculation also has it that the clay absorbed water and captured chemical byproducts like cations, which prevented them from reacting with the rocks surrounding them. However, it is still unclear how the planet’s topography and climate affected the formation of these clay layers.
© IE Online Media Services Pvt Ltd
