That Curiosityfrom the US space agency NASAComplete your mission in the land of Mars. That plow Analysis of the clay layer of Mars Which, in ancient times, could harbor life forms, which were then damaged by high-salinity water.
This would explain the cost of detecting signs or possible remains of life forms. This is what the study authors noted reveal Science Magazine. The device for analyzing volcanic craters – and ancient lakes – is called Storm.
mud and salt
Analyzing “two samples of sedimentary layers 3.5 billion years ago, the instrument detected in one the concentrations of clay minerals nearly twice as low as in the other, even though they were collected only 400 meters away. In contrast, the second sample contained high levels of oxide. “Iron, the chemical responsible for the color of the surface of Mars”, Rt. publishing agency.
Experts believe that this formation occurred due to the instability of the mud due to salt filtered in geological sediments, after the lake dried up.
“We used to think that once the clay mineral layers formed at the bottom of the lake at Gale Crater, they stayed that way, preserving their time of formation over billions of years. But then the salt water broke the clay in places, the rock record reset”, disclose report From NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, signed by Tom Bristow.
And what’s underneath?
For scientists, this evidence speaks not only of the destruction of possible signs of ancient life, ”but also points to the possible existence of underground organisms due to the action of groundwater that dissolves and transports chemicals, changing the structure of sediments. On Earth, this process, known as diagenesis, creates deep microbial habitats and could do the same on Mars,” they show on Rt.
“The deep biosphere is an excellent place to look for evidence of ancient life and measure habitability,” said John Grotzinger, one of the study’s authors.
These experts believe that although there are no signs of life at the lake site, it is possible that these new conditions created the chemical gradient needed to support life underground.
Sains, Rt, Dw, Youtube.
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