In the first hundreds of millions of years of existence, oceans up to 300 m deep could have formed on Mars. This is evidenced by the study of Martian meteorites. At that time, the planet could be suitable for life even better than Earth.
Crust of Mars and Oceans on it
Scientists continued to argue about whether Mars had oceans in the early period of its history or had only separate lakes and streams under glaciers at that time. New assumptions about this have recently been made by researchers from the Planet Formation Center.
They studied Martian meteorites that hit the Earth and found them uneven in the structure of the rocks that formed them. According to the researchers, the oldest components of these rocks demonstrate a completely different content of chromium isotopes than later ones.
This indicated in favor of the fact that in the first few hundred million years Mars was actively bombarded by icy bodies that filled it with water. According to the researchers, they were enough to form an ocean up to 300 m deep on the surface of the planet.
Life on Mars
More importantly, complex organic molecules could also get to the surface of Mars along with icy bodies. Given that the atmosphere of the planet at that time was dense and warm, life could well exist on it.
Moreover, the researchers draw attention to the fact that in the very first period of the existence of the Solar System, Mars was even a better place to live than Earth. Our own planet at that time was experiencing a giant collision, the consequence of which was the formation of the Moon.
On Earth at that time, the entire crust was melted and there was no talk of any oceans of liquid water. But Mars at this time was not subjected to such catastrophic events. This, again, is evidenced by samples of its crust, which has been preserved much better than the earth’s due to the lack of movement of tectonic plates.
According to scitechdaily.com
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