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New Findings Suggest Ancient Mars May Have Supported Life
Recent research conducted by NASA’s Curiosity rover has provided important evidence of a carbon cycle existing on ancient Mars, moving scientists closer to understanding whether the planet was ever capable of supporting life.
Dr. Ben Tutolo, an associate professor in the Department of Earth, Energy and Environment at the University of Calgary, serves as a participating scientist on the NASA Mars Science Laboratory Curiosity Rover team. This team is focused on exploring climate changes and the potential for habitability on Mars as Curiosity investigates Gale Crater.
This week, the findings were published in the journal Science, detailing discoveries from three drill sites where the rover uncovered siderite, an iron carbonate mineral, nestled within sulfate-rich layers of Mount Sharp in Gale Crater.
“The identification of substantial carbon deposits in Gale Crater marks a significant breakthrough in our comprehension of Mars’ geological and atmospheric evolution,” Dr. Tutolo noted.
He emphasized that reaching these geological layers had been a long-standing objective of the Mars Science Laboratory mission.
“The presence of highly soluble salts in these formations — along with similar deposits identified across much of Mars — has been interpreted as evidence for the ‘great drying’ event that altered Mars from a warm, wet environment to its current cold and dry state,” Dr. Tutolo explained. Sedimentary carbonates were anticipated to have developed under the CO2-rich conditions of the ancient Martian atmosphere; however, concrete identifications had been limited until now.
Since landing on Mars on August 5, 2012, the Curiosity rover has traveled over 34 kilometers across the Martian terrain. The existence of carbonate minerals suggests that there was sufficient carbon dioxide in the atmosphere to allow for the presence of liquid water on the surface. As the atmosphere thinned over time, this carbon dioxide was transformed into its mineral form.
Future missions and investigations of other sulfate-rich areas on Mars could validate these findings, helping to paint a clearer picture of the planet’s early history and the transformation that occurred as the atmosphere depleted.
Dr. Tutolo highlighted that scientists are working to determine the extent to which Mars could have supported life in the past. “This research suggests that Mars was indeed habitable, confirming that our models of habitability are accurate,” he commented.
“The broader implications indicate that the planet maintained its habitability until relatively recently; however, as CO2 began to precipitate as siderite, it likely affected Mars’ ability to retain warmth,” he continued.
He posed critical questions for future study: “To what extent was atmospheric CO2 sequestered? Could this have contributed to the decline in habitability?”
The findings align with Dr. Tutolo’s ongoing research concerning the transformation of anthropogenic CO2 into carbonates as a tactic for combatting climate change on Earth.
“Understanding how these minerals form on Mars enhances our knowledge of similar processes here,” he stated. “Investigating the degradation of Mars’ warm and wet past underscores the fragility of habitability.”
Dr. Tutolo concluded by highlighting a key observation: “It is evident that minor fluctuations in atmospheric CO2 levels can result in significant changes in a planet’s potential to support life.” He remarked, “The most astonishing aspect of Earth is that it has remained habitable for at least four billion years, whereas something went awry on Mars.”
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