Did lava, not water, form the canyons on Mars?
|June 14, 2014||Posted by News under Extraterrestrial life, News|
Of little interest, except it would mean:
The distinction between sedimentary and igneous rocks reaches far beyond geology. If, as the majority of scientists still believe, the valleys and outflow channels once contained significant volumes of water, then they are naturally prime candidates for future missions on the hunt for life. For instance, the European Space Agency’s ExoMars rover, due to touch down in 2019, is considering landing sites around Valles Marineris.
If Leone’s conclusion is accurate, however, and these features are instead mostly volcanogenic, this implies that much less water was present during their formation. If this turns out to be true, their suitability as landing sites could be called into question.
This would not spell doom for the chances of finding life on Mars. If Leone is right, it simply means that less liquid water existed in this particular corner of the planet. It would say little about Mars’ total water inventory.
So, in short, Mars may not have much water and may not be a good candidate for the hunt for life.
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