New 麻豆直播-led research has uncovered what may be the oldest direct evidence of ancient hot water activity on Mars, revealing the planet may have been habitable at some point in its past.
The study analysed a 4.45 billion-year-old zircon grain from the famous Martian meteorite NWA7034, also known as , and found geochemical 鈥榝ingerprints鈥� of water-rich fluids.
Study co-author Dr Aaron Cavosie from Curtin鈥檚 School of Earth and Planetary Sciences said the discovery opened up new avenues for understanding ancient Martian hydrothermal systems associated with , as well as the planet鈥檚 past habitability.
鈥淲e used nano-scale geochemistry to detect elemental evidence of hot water on Mars 4.45 billion years ago,鈥� Dr Cavosie said.
鈥淗ydrothermal systems were essential for the development of life on Earth and our findings suggest Mars also had water, a key ingredient for habitable environments, during the earliest history of crust formation.鈥�
鈥淭hrough nano-scale imaging and spectroscopy, the team identified element patterns in this unique zircon, including iron, aluminium, yttrium and sodium. These elements were added as the zircon formed 4.45 billion years ago, suggesting water was present during early Martian magmatic activity.鈥�
Dr Cavosie said the research showed that even though Mars鈥� crust endured massive meteorite impacts that caused major surface upheaval, water was present during the early Pre- period, prior to about 4.1 billion years ago.
鈥淎 2022 Curtin study of the same zircon grain found it had been 鈥榮hocked鈥� by a meteorite impact, marking it as the first and only known shocked zircon from Mars,鈥� Dr Cavosie said.
鈥淭his new study takes us a step further in understanding early Mars, by way of identifying tell-tale signs of water-rich fluids from when the grain formed, providing geochemical markers of water in the oldest known Martian crust.鈥�
Lead author Dr Jack Gillespie from the University of Lausanne was a Postdoctoral Research Associate at Curtin鈥檚 School of Earth and Planetary Sciences at the time of the study, which was co-authored by researchers from Curtin鈥檚 , the and the University of Adelaide, with funding from the Australian Research Council, 麻豆直播, University of Adelaide and the Swiss National Science Foundation.
The full study, titled 鈥�Zircon evidence for early hydrothermal activity on Mars鈥�, was published in Science Advances.
