The search for life on Mars is one of the great tasks that scientists have been undertaking for years. Now, research suggests that a specific area of the red planet could have harbored life on several occasions for billions of years . The key would be in the clay.
We say that the key would be in the clay because it has been the discovery of sediments with clay in the Margaritifer Terra area that has led scientists to affirm that this area of Mars could harbor life for a long period of time.
The existence of clay is an indication that water flowed in that area for a long period of time and that for it to form, a neutral pH and minimal water evaporation must be present. Scientists believe that water flowed through the area from about 3.8 billion years ago to about 2.5 billion years ago, a considerable stretch of Martian history.
“Furthermore, light-toned stratified sediments showing relatively low bed dips and containing clays over 200 kilometers away are evidence that there was most likely a lake in the Ladon Basin and north of Ladon Valles,” says Catherine Weitz, a senior scientist at the Arizona Planetary Science Institute. “The low-energy lacustrine environment and the presence of clays support an environment that would have been favorable for life at that time.”
The find isn’t exactly proof of life. To do this, you would have to dig on Mars and find fossils. However, it does suggest that the conditions would have made life easier.
Scientists believe the clays originally formed around the higher ground above the Ladon Basin, then were eroded by water channels and washed downstream into a lake in the Ladon Basin and northern Ladon Valleys. The most recent flow of water is believed to have been in the southwestern basin of the Ladon. Deposits from this area match those from another part of Mars, the Eberswalde delta, just south of the region covered by this study. “Our results indicate that clayey sediments deposited by running water in Eberswalde were not unusual during this more recent time because we see many examples of similar young valleys depositing clays in the region,” says Weitz.
It is known that there is ice on Mars, but scientists are still looking for water. This study supports the idea that the water that once flowed on the Martian planet occupied a large part of its landscape and could have supported life.
To find out if there was life at some point, it is necessary to find out if the presence of water was transitory or not. Because of how the clays and other rocks are distributed, scientists believe that the water flowed over time , not in a timely manner.
In addition, clays provide nutrients and stabilize the environment that surrounds them. If water, nutrients, and stable conditions come together, the chances that organisms can survive are greatly increased. ” Habitable conditions may have occurred repeatedly in the region , at least periodically, until relatively late in Mars’ history,” the researchers write in their publication.
Referencia: Weitz, C. et al. 2022. Clay sediments derived from fluvial activity in and around Ladon basin, Mars. Icarus. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.icarus.2022.115090
