We were wrong about Mars. It’s time to change the textbooks
Scientists have just revealed the oldest evidence pointing to the existence of water on Mars. This unusual particle was already there 4.45 billion years ago, shortly after the formation of the planet. This is evidenced by small zirconium, which is smaller than a human hair.
More text below the video
A small grain of zircon, a common mineral also found on Earth, is the main evidence in this case. Although its size is not impressive, it is enough to be evidence of processes that indicate the obvious presence of water on the surface of Mars. Without this famous molecule, the formation of zirconium would not be possible. What else were researchers able to show from this mineral?
The oldest evidence
The water present on Mars 4.45 billion years ago must have been very hot. It is also a common element of the history of the Red Planet and Earth. The oldest zircons on Earth indicate that water existed 4.3 billion years ago. The trace itself is the result of the impact of a huge asteroid, which caused a piece of rock to break away from Mars and, somewhat happily, reach the Earth’s surface in a condition that allows for any research.
The NWA 7034 meteorite was discovered in the Sahara in 2011, and now researchers led by geochemist Jack Gillespie from Curtin University have had the opportunity to take a better look at the minerals hidden in the zircon. It contains traces of iron, yttrium, aluminum and sodium that were trapped inside the zircon during its formation – reports sciencealert.com. However, this trail turned out to be an opportunity for further searching. Iron, aluminum and sodium do not usually appear in zircon on Earth. One of the few places where such a system can be found is in the state of South Australia, on the smallest continent of our planet.
The local zircon was formed in conditions in which extremely hot water interacted with the granite. Everything indicates that in the case of Mars we are talking about a similar process. Liquid heated by volcanic activity may have circulated beneath the planet’s surface, and perhaps sometimes even outside it. The source of igneous activity remains a separate question. And also the presence of hydrothermal systems. These issues will be the subject of further research.
