The new study will shed light on the melting of thick ice caps billions of years ago.
The most livable region for life Mars Would have been several miles below its surface, possibly due to the gutters of thick ice sheets ignited by geothermal heat, a study led by Routers has concluded.
The study, published in the journal Science progress, A delayed key question in the science of Mars – can help solve what is known as the obscure young sun paradox.
“Even if computer simulations such as greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide and water vapor enter the early atmosphere of Mars, meteorological models struggle to support long-term hot and humid Mars,” said Lujendra Oza, an assistant professor in the department. Earth and Planetary Sciences at Rutgers University’s School of Arts and Sciences in New Brunswick. “My co-authors and I have proposed that if there is a high geometric heat in the past of Mars, the paradox of the obscure young sun can be reconciled.”
Our sun is a huge nuclear fusion reactor that combines hydrogen with helium to produce energy. Over time, the sun gradually warms the surface of the planets in our solar system. About a billion billion years ago, the sun was very bright so the atmosphere of early Mars must have been cold. However, there are many geological indicators on the surface of Mars, such as ancient river belts, and chemical indicators such as water-related minerals, indicating that the Red Planet had plenty of liquid water about 1.1 billion to 7.7 billion years ago (Noachian era). This obvious contrast between the geological record and the climate models Dello is the vague young sun contrast.
On rocky planets like Mars, Earth Fri. And Mercury, heat-generating elements such as uranium, thorium, and potassium produce heat through radioactive decay. In such a situation, even if the sun is brighter than it is now, melting liquid water can be produced at the bottom of the thick ice sheet. On Earth, for example, geothermal heat forms subglacial lakes in areas of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet, Greenland, and the Canadian Arctic. It is possible that a similar melting 4 billion years ago would help explain the presence of liquid water, on Mars cold.
Scientists examined various datasets of Mars to see if heating by geothermal heat was possible in the Neochemical era. They showed that the conditions required for the melting of petals on ancient Mars would be ubiquitous. Even if Mars had a hot and humid atmosphere billions of years ago, with a loss of magnetic field, atmospheric thinning and subsequent drop in global temperature over time, liquid water can only freeze at great depths. Therefore, life, if it ever originated on Mars, could follow liquid water gradually to greater ths depths.
“In such depths, survival was possible through hydrothermal (heating) activity and rock-water reactions,” Oza said. “Therefore, the satellite could represent the longest habitable atmosphere on Mars.”
NASAAccording to Oza, Mars ‘Insight spacecraft landed in 2018 and could allow scientists to better assess the role of geothermal heat in Mars’ habitable space during the Nochian era.
Ref: December 2, 2020, by Lujendra Oza, Jacob Buffo, Suniti Karunatilek, and Matthew Siegler, “Groundwater Production from Early Heating on Early Mars and Implications for Early Martian Habitat” Science progress.
DOI: 10.1126 / sciadv.abb1669
Scientists from Louisiana State University and Dartmouth College College and the Institute of Planetary Science contributed to the study.