The atmosphere may be in the crust of Mars. Everything has to do with the large bodies of water that were on the planet in the past. That’s what scientists from MIT say.
Geologists from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) argue that a significant part of Mars’ atmosphere could be hidden in its crust. We are talking about carbon dioxide that has been converted into methane and kept in layers of clay – tells the Polish News Agency.
As scientists from MIT remind us, Mars was not always the desert planet we know today. According to the information received, millions of years ago there were large reservoirs of water on the Red Planet. However, about 3.5 billion years ago, the water disappeared and the thick atmosphere filled with carbon dioxide became much thinner. For years, planetary scientists have wondered what exactly happened to the Martian atmosphere.
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According to experts from MIT, most of Mars’ atmosphere is hidden in rocks, especially in the clay present in the crust of the planet.
– Based on what we found on Earth, we show that similar processes may have occurred on Mars and that a lot of atmospheric CO2 could be converted into methane and then stored in clay – says Prof. Oliver Jagoutz, author of a publication that appeared in the journal “Science Advances”.
Mars had a lot of water
Scientists explain that when water was present on Mars, chemical reactions could have occurred as a result of the interaction with iron. Their effect was to convert carbon dioxide into methane. This, in turn, was absorbed by the clay. According to Jagoutz, the ethane may still be there. This means that there is an opportunity to use it as an energy source in the future.
Experts estimated that up to 80 percent could be hidden in clay. ancient Martian atmosphere. In their theory, researchers based their theory on similar chemical reactions observed on Earth.
The past year has brought additional research into a mineral called smectite. Its characteristic is that it strongly absorbs carbon. Smectite on Earth may have been the result of tectonic activity. Such minerals, after reaching the surface of the Earth, stored a lot of carbon dioxide, which could have cooled the planet over millions of years.
After looking at maps of Mars, scientists noticed that much of the planet’s surface is covered with smectite-containing clay. This level reaches a depth of more than a kilometer. However, there is no tectonic activity on Mars that would create this mineral. So scientists developed a model that explains how smectite could have been formed in the Martian crust.
– The estimated global clay measurements on Mars are consistent with the hypothesis that a significant part of Mars’ original CO2 was stored as organic compounds in the clay-rich crust – says Prof. Murray.
– Somehow, the feeling that Mars needs can be “hidden in plain sight,” he said.
2024-09-27 14:01:00
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