In a vast database search from NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, American planetary scientists have uncovered evidence of an ancient world that once hosted life.
According to Science Alert, planetary scientists from the Planetary Science Institute (Arizona, USA) have identified in Reconnaissance Orbiter images sedimentary deposits containing clay across northern Ladon Valles, the southern basin of Ladon, and the southwestern plateaus surrounding the Ladon basin—all part of a larger area known as Margaritifer Terra.
Margaritifer Terra is located just south of the Martian equator and features a chaotic and ancient terrain.
A lake in Margaritifer Terra in the past – (Graphic image from the Planetary Science Institute)
The presence of clay indicates a long-term presence of water, as it forms under neutral pH conditions with minimal evaporation. The research team suggests that water flowed into this area from approximately 3.8 billion years ago to 2.5 billion years ago, a significant period in Mars’ history.
Dr. Catherine Weitz, the lead researcher, describes, “The layered sediment deposits with bright-colored tones, relatively low subsidence, and clay within a 200 km distance provide evidence that a lake likely existed in the Ladon basin and northern Ladon Valles.”
The appearance of lakes and clay would have supported a favorable environment for life at the time it existed.
NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter – (Photo: NASA)
While this is not definitive evidence of life, it suggests conditions that could have supported life. Clay likely formed around higher land areas above the Ladon basin before being eroded by water channels and transported downstream into a lake in the Ladon basin and northern Ladon Valles.
According to the research team, the most recent water flow occurred along the southwestern Ladon basin. The sediments here match another part of Mars, the Eberswalde Delta, located just south of this study area.
“Our results indicate that clay sedimentation caused by flowing water at Eberswalde is not unusual in recent times as we see many examples of similar young valleys where clay has accumulated in the region,” Dr. Weitz explained.
The presence of water on Mars, whether temporary or otherwise, is crucial in determining if life could have been supported at some point. The distribution of clay and other types of rocks discovered by the researchers aligns with the potential for water to cling to this terrain.
Furthermore, clay serves as a source of nutrients and stabilizing agents for the surrounding environment. Combining water, nutrients, and stable conditions significantly increases the chances that life existed and thrived.
This research was recently published in the scientific journal Icarus.
The aforementioned discovery aligns with long-held suspicions about the Margaritifer Terra region, as NASA has suggested that the chaotic terrain here was “sculpted” by raging water flows, including floods. Where there is water, the possibility for life exists.
Additionally, the “first Martian citizen” Curiosity, NASA’s famous rover, has also discovered building blocks of life in another ancient river valley, providing further evidence that the hypothesis of Mars once being habitable is becoming increasingly plausible.
