The question that those who investigate in depth the geology and geography of Mars must now investigate is whether the water existed for long periods, with persistence or if it was limited to short periods.
The European Space Agency (ESA) published a new giant map of Mars identifying places where water once existed on the Martian surface. This is the most comprehensive to date on extraterrestrial mineral deposits.
The data that gave rise to this work was collected over the last 10 years by ESA’s Mars Express satellite and NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. Both orbit the red planet.
The full study was published on August 22. space agencies rated these locations as hotspots where future missions should land.
Specifically, the map provides details of the locations where “aqueous materials” abound. These are related to water because they come from rocks that were altered by it in the past. Thus they were transformed into minerals such as salts and clays.
“Now, there can be no doubt that water played a very important role in shaping the geology all over the planet,” he says. the ESA statement.
How does the map of Mars ensure that the Martian rocks and soil were altered by water?
Scientists raised the hypothesis of water on Mars because On Earth, clays form when water interacts with rocks.. With different conditions that give rise to different types of clay”, they explain.
And so it was on Mars, as the results of this interaction prevailed on the planet’s surface until detected by satellites and rovers roaming its surface.
The areas where these findings are most concentrated are called “outcrops”. These are rocky places where the water level dropped until it finally eroded. Prior to this mission, only 1,000 upwelling zones had been identified, but now that figure has been surpassed.
“Ten years ago, planetary scientists knew regarding 1,000 outcrops on Mars. This made them interesting as geological oddities. However, the new map has reversed the situation, revealing hundreds of thousands of such areas in the oldest parts of the planet,” the statement said.
What doubts will scholars of Mars now have to answer?
The question that those who investigate in depth the geology and geography of Mars must now investigate is whether the water existed for long periods, with persistence or if it was limited to short periods. According to the ESA, the past of the red planet might be more complex than is believed.
“The evolution from a lot of water to no water is not as clear cut as we thought. The water did not stop overnight. We see a great diversity of geological contextsso no simple process or timeline can explain the evolution of Mars mineralogy,” says John Carter, an astrophysicist on the study.
“That is the first result of our study. The second is that if you exclude life processes on Earth, Mars exhibits a diversity of mineralogy in geological settings just as Earth does,” he adds.
