Mars is now a cold and dry planet. Once upon a time, the planet not only had water, but also volcanic activity that heated it up. Scientists recently found evidence of this in the famous Black Beauty meteorite.
“Black Beauty” and traces of hydrothermal activity
A new study led by Curtin University has revealed what may be the oldest direct evidence of ancient hot water activity on Mars, showing that the planet may have been habitable at some point in its past.
The study analyzed 4.45-billion-year-old zircon grains from the famous Martian meteorite NWA7034, also known as “Black Beauty,” and found geochemical “fingerprints” of water-rich fluids.
Study co-author Dr. Aaron Cavosie of the Curtin’s School of Earth and Planetary Sciences said the discovery opened new avenues for understanding ancient Martian hydrothermal systems associated with magmatism, as well as the past habitation of the planet.
Nano-scale simulation
“We used nano-scale geochemistry to detect elemental evidence of hot water on Mars 4.45 billion years ago,” Dr. Cavosie said. “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.”
Using nano-scale imaging and spectroscopy, the team determined the structure of elements in this unique zircon, including iron, aluminum, yttrium, and sodium. These elements were added when zircon formed 4.45 billion years ago, indicating the presence of water during early Martian magmatic activity.
The results of the study are published in the journal Science Advances.
Key findings of the study
Dr. Cavosie said the study showed that even though Mars’ crust had experienced massive meteor strikes that caused significant surface disruption, water was present during the early Pre-Noachian period, about 4.1 billion years ago.
“A 2022 Curtin study of the same zircon grain found it had been ‘shocked’ by a meteorite impact, marking it as the first and only known shocked zircon from Mars,” Dr. Cavosie said.
“This new study takes us a step further in understanding early Mars, by way of identifying tell-tale signs of water-rich fluids from when the grain formed, providing geochemical markers of water in the oldest known Martian crust.”
Provided by phys.org
