If there is (or was) life on Mars it could be hidden on Mount Olympus . Using a computer modeling system, Patrick McGovern and Julia Morgan of Rice University have concluded that there are pockets of water trapped under this huge volcanic summit, which is three times the size of Earth's Everest. And the researchers add, the only thing that could explain the asymmetric shape of the Martian mountain is the presence of clay sediments.
If correct, "this deep reservoir of water, heated by magmatic heat and protected from the adverse conditions of the red planet's surface, would be a favorable environment for the existence of thermophilic organisms ", write McGovern and Morgan in the latest issue of Geology magazine. These types of organisms could be similar to some of the life forms that live deep in Earth's oceans, near hydrothermal outcrops.
