Methane Gas May Have Caused Greenhouse Effect on Young Mars

Mars is covered in gullies and dry riverbeds, but scientists have always been baffled as to how water could have existed on the freezing world.

Mars. Image Credit: NASA/JPL/USGS

New research suggests water could have been able to exist thanks to a massive global warming event triggered by methane gas bursts.

Scientists from Harvard University believe this would have allowed water to exist on the planet, and thus it is possible life could have thrived.

Robin Wordsworth, assistant professor of environmental science and engineering, said: "Early Mars is unique in the sense that it's the one planetary environment, outside Earth, where we can say with confidence that there were at least episodic periods where life could have flourished.

“If we understand how early Mars operated, it could tell us something about the potential for finding life on other planets outside the solar system.”

The discovery gives credence to the theory that Mars may have once been in conditions similar to early Earth.

Researchers believe massive geologic activity would have allowed huge bursts of methane to escape the planet and warm the atmosphere. (Tasnim News Agency)

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