New Evidence for A Water-Rich History on Mars

Mars may have been a wetter place than previously thought, according to research on simulated Martian meteorites conducted, in part, at the US Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab).

Mars. Image credit: ESA/Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 3.0-igo)

Researchers found evidence that a mineral found in Martian meteorites -- which had been considered as proof of an ancient dry environment on Mars -- may have originally been a hydrogen-containing mineral that could indicate a more water-rich history for the Red Planet.

Scientists at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV), who led an international research team in the study, created a synthetic version of a hydrogen-containing mineral known as whitlockite.

After shock-compression experiments on whitlockite samples that simulated the conditions of ejecting meteorites from Mars, the researchers studied their microscopic makeup with X-ray experiments.

The X-ray experiments showed that whitlockite can become dehydrated from such shocks, forming merrillite, a mineral that is commonly found in Martian meteorites but does not occur naturally on Earth.

And because whitlockite can be dissolved in water and contains phosphorous, an essential element for life on Earth -- and merrillite appears to be common to many Martian meteorites -- the study could also have implications for the possibility of life on Mars.

The only missing link now is to prove that merrillite had, in fact, really been Martian whitlockite before.

Many Martian meteorites found on Earth seem to come from a period of about 150 million to 586 million years ago, and most are likely from the same region of Mars. These meteorites are essentially excavated from a depth of about a kilometer below the surface by the initial impact that sent them out into space, so they aren't representative of the more recent geology at the surface of Mars.

Even with more detailed studies of Martian meteorites coupled with thermal imaging of Mars taken from orbiters, and rock samples analyzed by rovers traversing the planet's surface, the best evidence of Mars' water history would be an actual Martian rock taken from the planet and transported back to Earth, intact, for detailed studies. (Tasnim News Agency)

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