Water on Mars: The latest find shows early habitable surroundings!

Water on Mars: The latest find shows early habitable surroundings!

Sahara, Algerien - A groundbreaking find about the water history of Mars is underpinned by the Marsmeteorite NWA 7034, better known as "Black Beauty". Researchers from Australia and Switzerland have discovered indications inside this extraordinary meteorite that indicated that hot water flowed on the red planet 4.45 billion years ago. This knowledge could be crucial for our understanding of the earliest living conditions on Mars, as from the reports of and Futurezone .

The meteorite "Black Beauty" is characterized by its complex composition of various rock fragments that were identified in the Sahara discovery in 2011. As part of the analysis, a tiny zirconal fragment was examined, which was created in the Magma 4.45 billion years ago. In this zircon, the researchers found geochemical "fingerprints" of water -rich liquids, including the elements of iron, aluminum, yttrium and sodium. These unusual elements indicate that such crystals could only be formed in the presence of hot water, which made it easier to transport these elements, as Aaron Cavosie from Curtin University reports in a guest contribution.

The importance of water for life

The discovery could not only revolutionize the understanding of Marsgeology, but also open up new perspectives on the question of whether Mars could ever offer habitats. Hydrothermal systems that exist on earth and are essential for the development of life could also have played on Mars, which supports the possibility of habitable environments at the time. The results of this study were published in the “Science Advances” journal and open up new ways of research on European and Planettarian geology, as in the articles of and Futurezone is made clear.