Mars Meteorite Reveals New Evidence That Hot Water Flowed on Ancient Mars (space.com) 24
"Scientists have found what seems to be the oldest direct evidence of hot water flowing on Mars during its ancient past," reports Space.com.
"The discovery could further indicate that the Red Planet, despite its arid and desolate appearance today, may have been capable of supporting life long ago." The evidence was delivered to Earth and sealed within the well-known Martian meteorite NWA7034, found in the Sahara Desert in 2011. Due to its black, highly polished appearance, the Martian rock is also known as "Black Beauty." At an estimated 2 billion years old, Black Beauty is the second oldest Martian meteorite ever discovered. However, the Curtin University team discovered something even older within it: a 4.45 billion-year-old zircon grain that harbors the fingerprints of fluids rich in water.
Team member Aaron Cavosie from Curtin's School of Earth and Planetary Sciences thinks this discovery will open up new avenues to understanding hydrothermal systems associated with the activity of volcanic magma that once ran through Mars. "We used nano-scale geochemistry to detect elemental evidence of hot water on Mars 4.45 billion years ago," Cavosie said in a statement. "Hydrothermal systems were essential for the development of life on Earth, and our findings suggest Mars also had water, a key ingredient for habitable environments, during the earliest history of crust formation...."
[T]his new research implies that water in liquid form may have existed on Mars even earlier than previously expected in the planet's pre-Noachian period.
"The discovery could further indicate that the Red Planet, despite its arid and desolate appearance today, may have been capable of supporting life long ago." The evidence was delivered to Earth and sealed within the well-known Martian meteorite NWA7034, found in the Sahara Desert in 2011. Due to its black, highly polished appearance, the Martian rock is also known as "Black Beauty." At an estimated 2 billion years old, Black Beauty is the second oldest Martian meteorite ever discovered. However, the Curtin University team discovered something even older within it: a 4.45 billion-year-old zircon grain that harbors the fingerprints of fluids rich in water.
Team member Aaron Cavosie from Curtin's School of Earth and Planetary Sciences thinks this discovery will open up new avenues to understanding hydrothermal systems associated with the activity of volcanic magma that once ran through Mars. "We used nano-scale geochemistry to detect elemental evidence of hot water on Mars 4.45 billion years ago," Cavosie said in a statement. "Hydrothermal systems were essential for the development of life on Earth, and our findings suggest Mars also had water, a key ingredient for habitable environments, during the earliest history of crust formation...."
[T]his new research implies that water in liquid form may have existed on Mars even earlier than previously expected in the planet's pre-Noachian period.
Life (Score:1)
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Re:Earth life came from Mars? (Score:1)
Could be. Mars was more hospitable to life early in its history because its molten surface cooled faster than Earth, being smaller. A meteor could then have knocked its life to Earth when Earth mellowed.
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Fascinating, but not news (Score:3)
This result is fascinating, and it is good science... but it is not news that evidence of warm water has been found on Mars.
Back in 2007, the Spirit rover found hydrothermal deposits at the Home Plate [wikipedia.org] formation in Gusev Crater, clear evidence that hot springs had existed at the site.
https://www.planetary.org/arti... [planetary.org]
Dispatches from the Red Planet (Score:2)
The Council of Elders announced that they have plugged up the warm bath water of K'Breel. All inquiries should be directed to K'Breel Jr.
End transmission.
Re: Dispatches from the Red Planet (Score:2)
The council is not without mercy, however. You may choose which three appendages we feed to the [*UNTRANSLATED*].
Signed,
K'Traal
Assistant Speaker to the Council
How do they know? (Score:2)
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It just smells Mars'y. There are professional wine tasters and professional asteroid tasters.
- MTG, the new NASA Chief
Is water really necessary for life? (Score:2)
Re: Is water really necessary for life? (Score:2)
There needs to be some sort of solvent around for the sort of chemistry that life (as we know it) depends on. It could be ammonia, liquid methane or any number of more exotic alternatives but it just so happens that Earth had water. Doubtless water has certain properties that make it a good option for life to evolve, but I'm no biochemist and we have no other kinds of life to compare to anyway. Still, to take liquid methane as an example, it has to be cold or under great pressure to be liquid. In the former
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Where's the paper? (Score:2)
The space.com article mentions that "The team's research was published on Friday (Nov. 22) in the journal Science Advances" but doesn't tell us the title, or list any other authors. I've had a quick poke around but can't find their paper either. Does anyone have a link to the actual published paper?
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Basic Amenities (Score:2)
I'm sorry, but I'm not holidaying there until they also have chilled and carbonated water.
Water is not life (Score:1)
Confirmation bias on this topic has existed for years.
WE HUMANS are made of water.
ALIEN LIFE may not have anything to do with water.
PLEASE STOP equating "water" with "life. There can be life without water, water without life, no water no life, or the water of life (Dune ref.)
Enough of this "we found water so life is just around the corner" crap.
Anyone remember "WormGate"? (Score:2)
In the 1990's President Clinton announced an asteroid from Mars that allegedly contained "likely evidence of life" when worm-like shapes were found that resembled fossilized bacteria.
That claim has since been walked back to "we can't really say". It's still a curious asteroid. [wikipedia.org]