Mars was covered in deep oceans. Then ‘something catastrophic’ happened, say scientists
Mars was a water world. Planetary scientists see evidence of water all over the red planet, but a new study of meteorites suggests that Mars was once a blue planet, like Earth, covered in water as deep as 1,000 feet/300m.
The new research, published in Science Advances, also suggests that it was icy asteroids that carried water to Mars—as suspected for Earth. They may have also brought molecules such as amino acids, which form proteins and are the the building blocks of life.
It’s strong evidence that conditions for life emerged from on Earth were present on Mars long before.
It all happened in the first 100 million years of the planet’s evolution. “At this time, Mars was bombarded with asteroids filled with ice,” said Professor Martin Bizzarro from the University of Copenhagen’s Centre for Star and Planet Formation.
Was Mars fit for life before Earth?
The new study—which relied on computational modelling—shows that oceans covered the entire planet and may have been up to a 0.6 miles/one kilometre deep.
The insights from studying meteorites that used to be part of the Martian surface are so profound because the red planet does not have plate tectonics. Unlike Earth, whose first 500 million years are unknown because of the surface’s constant churning, the surface of Mars is untouched.
“The plates [on Earth] constantly move and are recycled back and destroyed into the interior of our planet,” said Bizzarro. “In contrast, Mars does not have plate tectonics such that planet’s surface preserves a record of the earliest history of the planet.”
Wishing you clear skies and wide eyes.
