• Site of Martian Lakes Might Have Been Linked to Ancient Habitable Envir

    From baalke@1:2320/100 to sci.space.news on Fri Feb 19 23:10:20 2016
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    NEWS RELEASE FROM THE PLANETARY SCIENCE INSTITUTE

    FROM:
    Alan Fischer
    Public Information Officer
    Planetary Science Institute
    520-382-0411
    520-622-6300
    fischer@psi.edu<mailto:fischer@psi.edu>


    Site of Martian Lakes Might Have Been Linked to Ancient Habitable Environment

    Feb. 9, 2015, Tucson, Ariz. -- Groundwater circulation beneath a massive tectonic rift zone located along the flanks of some the Solar System's
    largest volcanic plateaus resulted in the formation more than 3 million years ago of some the deepest basins on Mars, according to a new paper by Planetary Science Institute Senior Scientist J. Alexis Palmero Rodriguez.

    These basins could have been episodically covered, perhaps during hundreds
    of millions of years, by lava and water lakes that were discharged from subsurface pressurized sources, Rodriguez writes in "Groundwater flow induced collapse and flooding in Noctis Labyrinthus, Mars" that appears in Planetary and Space Science.

    This shows an area on Mars that could possibly have harbored life.

    "The temperature ranges, presence of liquid water, and nutrient availability, which characterize known habitable environments on Earth, have higher
    chances of forming on Mars in areas of long-lived water and volcanic processes,"
    Rodriguez said. "Existing salt deposits and sedimentary structures of possible emplacement within Martian paleo-lakes are of particular astrobiological importance when looking for past habitable areas on Mars. This is particularly true if the discharge of early Mars groundwater, perhaps liked to hydrothermal systems that were active for billions of years, contributed to the formation of

    the paleo-lakes, as it is proposed in this investigation."

    The detection of paleo-lake sites on Mars is particular challenging because under the planet's frigidly cold and thin atmosphere, their ponded water would have behaved differently than on Earth, he said. In this research we propose
    a Tibetan region where high mountain lakes show unique sets of landforms that might explain some basin interior features in the studied region of Mars.

    In collaboration with the Chinese government, Rodriquez will visit the Tibetan region this coming summer to investigate their in-situ potential as astrobiological analog sites. These activities will not be funded by NASA.

    PSI Senior Scientist Cathy Weitz and Associate Research Scientist Thomas Platz are co-authors on the paper.

    Visit http://www.psi.edu/news/alexisimage to see close-up views on the floors of a lava-covered basin on Mars, where shallow lakes could have formed within the last few tens of millions of years, and a proposed analog terrain high mountain lake in the Tibetan plateau.


    CONTACT:
    J. Alexis Palmero Rodriguez
    Senior Scientist
    650-450-7352
    alexis@psi.edu<mailto:alexis@psi.edu>

    PSI INFORMATION:
    Mark V. Sykes
    Director
    520-622-6300
    sykes@psi.edu<mailto:sykes@psi.edu>

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