Major foreign media such as Cnet reported on the 16th (local time) that a study has revealed that a surprising amount of water is still hidden under the surface of Mars.
Mars, where lakes and rivers once flowed, is now a barren desert. Scientists have done a lot of research into how the massive water that covered Mars disappeared. According to newly published research results, there is still a lot of water on Mars.
Eva Scheller, a PhD student at the University of California, USA, argued in this paper that “the existing air escape theory does not fully explain the amount of water that actually existed on Mars.” The results of this study were introduced in the international academic journal Science on the 16th.
■ The existing theory, can not explain the loss of a large amount of water
The amount of water once known to exist on Mars is such that oceans up to 1,500 m deep can cover the entire planet, more than half of the Atlantic Ocean.
In 2020, a research team led by Dr. Roger Yell, a professor of planetary science at the University of Arizona, in the U.S., explains why so much water disappeared from Mars. He proposed an atmospheric escape theory that overlaps with this dust storm and flies into space.
However, the amount of water loss through the atmosphere measured through this study was not sufficient to account for the large amount of water previously on Mars.
■ “30~99% of Martian water will be trapped under the surface”
A research team at the University of California, USA, developed a model that quantifies the amount of Mars water over time by analyzing the chemical composition of Mars’ atmosphere and crust. The researchers explained that the water molecules on ancient Mars are still bound to the mineral crystal structure below the Earth’s surface.
Bethany Ehlmann, professor of planetary science at the University of California, USA, said, “By analyzing the data collected through Mars exploration over the past 10 years, the amount of water has decreased as a huge reservoir of ancient hydrated minerals has been formed. I found that I did.”
When water and rock interact, chemical weathering occurs, creating a clay-like material containing water in the mineral structure. This phenomenon also occurs on Earth, but water trapped in rocks is released back into the atmosphere through geological cycles such as volcanic activity.
However, Mars currently has very little volcanic activity and all the water appears to be trapped in the crust, the researchers estimate. “Most of the water was initially sequestered and never circulated again,” he explained.
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The researchers explained that Mars 4 billion years ago had enough water to cover the entire planet by an ocean at a depth of 100-1,500 m, and about 30-99% of that water is now trapped in mineral form under the surface of Mars.
In the future, the researchers will conduct further research using rock samples collected by the NASA’s Mars Exploration Rover Persivirance.