Water on Mars

However, the origin of the water on Mars is still unknown. Since the Earth and Mars have some common features in their history, the water on Mars could have come both from its interior and from comets and asteroids. The huge size of the Martian shield volcanoes, one class of which resembles the shield volcanoes Kilauea and Mauna Kea on Hawaii, suggests that a large proportion of the water was of volcanic origin. 

The most recent research results show that it is difficult to detect formerly liquid water on Mars. Pictures of what are assumed to be seafloors and riverbeds are no longer considered to be certain evidence that flowing water was always present in all the regions of Mars. Critical examination of some landscapes indicates that they were carved by lava flows and not by water. Only in the case of the edges of craters, and some river gullies, does it appear quite clear that they were formed by liquid water. However, at the time of writing, the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter mission is only a few weeks old, so further important results (and perhaps surprises) on the surface and mineralogy of Mars can be expected (Baker, 2007). 

Watson LL, Hutcheon ID, Epstein S, Stolper EM (1994) Water on Mars clues from deu-terium/hydrogen and water contents of hydrous phases in SNC meteorites. Science 265 86-90 Weber IN, Raup DM (1966a) Eractionation of the stable isotopes of carbon and oxygen in marine calcareous organisms-the Echinoidea. 1. Variation of and content within individuals. Geochim Cosmochim Acta 30 681-703... 

Grover, M.R., Hilstad, M.O., Elias, L.M., Carpenter, K.G., Schneider, M.A., Hoffman, C.S., Adan-Plaza, S., Bruckner, A.P., Extraction of Atmospheric Water on Mars, Mars Society Founding Convention, Boulder, CO, August (1998)... 

Borg, L. and Drake, M. J. (2005) A review of meteorite evidence for the timing of magmatism and of surface or near-surface liquid water on Mars. Journal of Geophysical Research, 110, E12S03. 

Lunine J. L., Morbidelli A., and Chambers J. E. (2002) Origin of water on Mars. Lunar Planet. Sci., abstract 1791. 

Carr M. H. (1996) Water on Mars. Oxford University Press, New York, 229pp. 

McSween H. Y. and Harvey R. P. (1993) Outgassed water on Mars constraints from melt inclusions in SNC meteorites. Science 259, 1890-1892. 

An important clue to the role of water on Mars was obtained, again by spectroscopic means, in 1963 by Lewis Kaplan (1928-99) and his colleagues at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena. The JPL team reported that the amount of water in the Martian at-... 

The Mars Global Surveyor, which has been orbiting the red planet since April 1999, has sent back detailed pictures of sedimentary rocks that NASA scientists say probably formed in lakes and shallow seas. Erosional channels suggesting the presence of flowing water on Mars sometime in the past were described long ago, but the new images provide the first solid evidence that oceans once existed on Mars. Whether these oceans drained away under the surface of the planet or evaporated into space, or both, is as yet unknown. 

Figure 13. D/H and water contents of apatite grains from martian meteorite QUE94201 after Leshin (2000). The data are interpreted to represent a mixture of two end members, and most plausibly represent addition (or exchange) of water with an atmospheric D/H signature (5D +4000 %o) to minerals which initially uniformly contained water with 5D of 90ftt250 %o, or approximately twice the D/H value cotmnonly assumed for magmatic water on Mars. The curve shows the mixing model from which the initial D/H of the minerals was calculated.

Swindle TD, Treiman AH, Lindstrom DL, Burkland MK, Cohen BA, Grier JA, Li B, Olson EK (2000) Noble gas studies of iddingsite from the Lafayette meteorite Evidence for the timing of liquid water on Mars. Meteoritic Planet Sci 35 107-115... 

Interest in the chemistry of alunites stems from the possible discovery of alunites on Mars [17, 18] which implies the presence of water on Mars either at present or at some time in the planetary past [19, 20]. Interest in such minerals and their thermal stability rests with the possible identification of these minerals and related dehydrated paragenetically related minerals on planets and on Mars. 

Later successful U.S. landers included the Mars Pathfinder lander/rover mission (which utilized air bags rather than retro-rockets during the last phase of its landing) and the Phoenix, which studied the geologic history of water on Mars, its involvement in Martian climate change, and the planet s past or future habitability. 

Tokano, Tetsuya, ed. Water on Mars and Life. New York Springer-Verlag, 2005. This collection of essays by professional scientists details the role of water in the planetary evolution of early Mars, water reservoirs on Mars, and the possible astrobiological importance of terrestrial analogues of putative aqueous environments on Mars. 

Water is easily the most common and important liquid on Earth. It fills our oceans, lakes, and streams. In its solid form, it covers nearly an entire continent (Antarctica), as well as large regions around the North Pole, and caps mu tallest mountains. In its gaseous form, it humidifies our air. We drink water, we sweat water, and we excrete bodily wastes dissolved in water. Indeed, the majority of our body mass is water. Life is impossible without water, and in most places on Earth where liquid water exists, life exists. Recent evidence of water on Mars— that existed either in the past or exists in the present— has fueled hopes of finding life or evidence of life there. Water is remarkable. 

The many Mossbauer investigations of the spectra taken by the MERs on soils and rocks along their pathways showed olivines and pyroxenes as the main silicates [294—296]. Most interesting was the obvious observation of a jarosite spectrum, inferring the former presence of water on Mars [297]. This was also corroborated by the identification of goethite in the spectra from some locations [298]. 

On the other hand, at the present time Mars has very little atmosphere. (It is believed by some planetary scientists that Mars may have had an atmosphere in the past but lost that atmosphere to outer space.) Consequently, there is no greenhouse effect on Mars, and Mars stays permanently cold. Mars is so cold that all surface water on Mars is frozen. Humans could Uve on Mars only in space suits or in artificial shelters. 

Geomorphologic evidence for liquid water on Mars indicating a hydrologic cycle in the past was mentioned by Masson et al., 2001 [218]. These follow form the many channels and canyons observed on the surface of Mars. 

More about methods of detection of water on Mars can be found in Chap. 9 of this book. 

Fig. 3.7 This Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) image shows a suite of south mid-latitude gullies on a crater wall. GuUies such as these may have formed by runoff of liquid water. The problem is that the temperature is normally too cold and the atmosphere too thin to sustain liquid water on Mars. However, water could burst out from underground layers and remain liquid long enough to erode the gullies. Another explanation of the gullies involve carbon dioxide. Image Credit NASA/JPL/Malin Space Science Systems...

The story whether there is water on Mars or not and if yes, how much, is not completely finished yet. As we have stated, the debate started more than 100 years ago by the observations of the canali which turned out to be artifacts caused by blurring effects in our atmosphere. In 1976 the first unmanned spacecrafts landed on the martian surface (Viking 1 and Viking 2). Mars appeared as a dry, rocky desert with no signs of water. 

An example for the search of water on Mars is given in Fig. 3.13. It shows a spectrum obtained with the Mars Exploration Rover Spirit s Moessbauer spectrometer. ... 

Fig. 3.11 A map showing the distribution of water on Mars. The data were obtained with the Gamma Ray spectrometer, GRS. Credit Mars Odyssey, GRS Team, LANL, NASA...

Fairen, A.G., Schulze-Makuch, D., Rodriguez, A.R, Fink, W., Davila, A.F., Uceda, E.R., Furfaro, R., Amils, R., McKay, C.R Evidence for Amazonian acidic liquid water on Mars-a reinterpretation of MER mission results. Rlanet. Space Sci. 57,276-287 (2009)... 

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