Could a Mud Lake on Mars Be Hiding Signs of Ancient Life? (space.com) 19
"Planetary scientists want to search for biosignatures in what they believe was once a Martian mud lake," reports Space.com:
After scientists carefully studied what they believe are desiccated remnants of an equatorial mud lake on Mars, their study of Hydraotes Chaos suggests a buried trove of water surged onto the surface. If researchers are right, then this flat could become prime ground for future missions seeking traces of life on Mars...
More generally, scientists suggest surface water on Mars froze over about 3.7 billion years ago as the atmosphere thinned and the surface cooled. But underground, groundwater might still have remained liquid in vast chambers. Moreover, life forms might have abided in those catacombs — leaving behind traces of their existence. Only around 3.4 billion years ago did that system of aquifers break down in Hydraotes Chaos, triggering floods of epic proportions that dumped mountains' worth of sediment onto the surface, the study suggests. Future close-up missions could someday examine that sediment for biosignatures...
Alexis Rodriguez, a senior scientist at the Planetary Science Institute in Arizona, and his colleagues pored over images of Hydraotes Chaos taken by NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter in search of more clues. In the midst of the chaos terrain's maelstrom lies a calm circle of relatively flat ground. This plain is pockmarked with cones and domes, with hints of mud bubbling from below — suggesting that sediment did not arrive via a rushing flash flood, but instead rose from underneath. Based on simulations, the authors suggest Hydraotes Chaos overlaid a reservoir of buried biosignature-rich water — potentially in the form of thick ice sheets.
Ultimately — potentially from the Red Planet's internal heat melting the ice — that water bubbled up to the surface and created a muddy lake. As the water dissipated, it would have left behind all those tantalizing biosignatures. Curiously, that water might have remained underground even after those megafloods. In fact, the authors' results suggest the sediment on the surface of this mud lake dates from only around 1.1 billion years ago: long after most of Mars's groundwater ought to have flooded out, and certainly long after Mars was habitable. With that timeline in mind, Rodriguez and colleagues plan to analyze what lies under the surface of the lake. That, Rodriguez tells Space.com, would allow scientists to establish when in Martian history the planet might have hosted life.
Rodriguez tells Space.com that this region is now "under consideration" for testing with an under-development NASA instrument called Extractor for Chemical Analysis of Lipid Biomarkers in Regolith (EXCALIBR) — that could test extraterrestrial rocks for biomarkers like lipids.
Alexis Rodriguez, a senior scientist at the Planetary Science Institute in Arizona, and his colleagues pored over images of Hydraotes Chaos taken by NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter in search of more clues. In the midst of the chaos terrain's maelstrom lies a calm circle of relatively flat ground. This plain is pockmarked with cones and domes, with hints of mud bubbling from below — suggesting that sediment did not arrive via a rushing flash flood, but instead rose from underneath. Based on simulations, the authors suggest Hydraotes Chaos overlaid a reservoir of buried biosignature-rich water — potentially in the form of thick ice sheets.
Ultimately — potentially from the Red Planet's internal heat melting the ice — that water bubbled up to the surface and created a muddy lake. As the water dissipated, it would have left behind all those tantalizing biosignatures. Curiously, that water might have remained underground even after those megafloods. In fact, the authors' results suggest the sediment on the surface of this mud lake dates from only around 1.1 billion years ago: long after most of Mars's groundwater ought to have flooded out, and certainly long after Mars was habitable. With that timeline in mind, Rodriguez and colleagues plan to analyze what lies under the surface of the lake. That, Rodriguez tells Space.com, would allow scientists to establish when in Martian history the planet might have hosted life.
Rodriguez tells Space.com that this region is now "under consideration" for testing with an under-development NASA instrument called Extractor for Chemical Analysis of Lipid Biomarkers in Regolith (EXCALIBR) — that could test extraterrestrial rocks for biomarkers like lipids.
They just found... (Score:3)
Dubious, but . . . (Score:4)
We recenly were able to bring back to life worms which existed 46,000 years ago [cnn.com]. All we needed to do was rehydrate it. In a similar manner, 32,000 year old seeds [nationalgeographic.com] were able to germinate* and grow once again.
While the difference between 46,000 years and 1.1 billion years is an enormous time, there is still a non-zero chance the possibility of some form of life surviving in a mud lake under the surface of Mars. Granted, that life had to exist before, and so far we haven't found any definitive proof there was life on Mars at any point in the past, but maybe some basic form of life, such as worms or even bacteria, did exist. This mud lake might not be the worst place to look.
* One of these ancient seeds wasn't grown. Instead, tissue from the seeds were extracted and grown. However, once grown, the plants produced flowers and then their own seeds.
Re: (Score:2)
From the point of view of bacteria, "worms" (I think that they were specifically nematode worms, out of the dozen-odd phyla described as "worms") are pretty close to indistinguishable from humans, corals and any other eukaryotes.
But as you say, there is no evidence that any such organism has ever existed. Despite people looking, repeatedly. ("Looking repeatedly" is the best known method of finding things that can't be easily seen. Unl
Re: (Score:2)
cool dude alert (Score:2)
"despite the presence of ad-blockers and No-Script"
Thanks for letting us know you block ads. Do you also not own a TV and havn't watched a show in 7 years?
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It might come as a shock to Americans, but there are places where the TV is not over-run with adverts. Your government may have sold your (non-existent) souls to the advertising corporations who elect "your" government, but yours is not the only way of doing thi
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You seem to be responding to a question as to whether the mud lake is hiding life, or at least something which can be revived; that's a rather different question to whether it's hiding evidence that there was once life there.
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You seem to be responding to a question as to whether the mud lake is hiding life, or at least something which can be revived; that's a rather different question to whether it's hiding evidence that there was once life there.
I was giving examples of life existing long after we would have thought they weren't. So yes, in a roundabout way I was suggesting we might find some form of life, even bacteria, still existing in these old mud lakes if the conditions are right. However, the more likely response should be if any form of life did exist, these mud lakes would also be a good location to look.
Mud Lake? (Score:4, Funny)
I gotta say, these Intel processor series names are getting less appealing with each generation.
Ancients (Score:2)
I don't recall anything from Stargate about the Ancients being on Mars. Did anyone ask Daniel Jackson?
Did life begin on Mars? (Score:3)
There are a few scientists who've postulated that life here actually began on Mars.
I think people misunderstand what 1.1 BILLION years would leave behind. Not much of anything. You'd have to search real hard to find evidence of life on Earth after 1.1 BILLION years had passed.
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On the contrary, we are working hard to wipe it out.
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That said, the sensors on current Mars rovers have better eyesight than me with a hand lens. And better mineralogy (specifically, low levels of carbonate and sulphate mineral detection, which are water-soluble - hence, water-depositable) with their X-ray and laser devices. But I still cover ground and outcrops faster than they do.
The next generation of helicopters may change that la
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"There are a few scientists who've postulated that life here actually began on Mars."
And plenty have also postulated that it began outside the solar system all-together and Earth and potentially the other planets were seeded randomly somehow. Given enough time, islands in the middle of the ocean have trees, bugs, birds, and animals.
could (Score:2)
How much would could a wouldchuck chuck if a wouldchuck could chuck would?
The chances are (Score:2)