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Mars' 'missing' water is buried beneath surface: study

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Lucie Aubourg and Issam Ahmed, Agence France-Presse

<div class="embed-wrap"><figure data-feedback="fb:likes,fb:comments"><img src="http://sa.kapamilya.com/absnews/abscbnnews/media/2021/reuters/03/17/mars.jpg"/><figcaption>This mosaic of Mars is composed of about 100 Viking Orbiter images. The images were acquired in 1980 during mid-northern summer on Mars.<em> Image by NASA/JPL-Caltech/USGS</em></figcaption></figure></div><p>WASHINGTON - Billions of years ago, Mars was home to lakes and oceans -- but where all the water went to transform the planet into the desolate rock we know today has been something of a mystery.</p><p>Most of it was thought to have been lost to space, but a new study funded by NASA proposes that it didn&#x27;t go anywhere but is trapped within minerals in the crust.</p><p>&quot;We&#x27;re saying that the crust forms what we call hydrated minerals, so minerals that actually have water in their crystal structure,&quot; Eva Scheller, lead author of the new paper in Science, told AFP.</p><p>In fact, Scheller&#x27;s model suggests anywhere between 30 - 99 percent of the initial water remains trapped inside these minerals. </p><p>Early Mars was thought to have enough water to cover the whole planet in roughly 100 to 1,500 meters (330 to 4,4920 feet) of ocean.</p><ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/overseas/02/23/21/nasa-releases-first-audio-from-mars-video-of-landing">NASA releases first audio from Mars, video of landing</a></li></ul><p>Because the planet lost its magnetic field early in its history, its atmosphere was progressively stripped away, and it was assumed this was how it lost its water.</p><p>But the authors of the new study believe that while some of the water did disappear, the majority remained.</p><p>Using observations made by Mars rovers as well as of meteorites from the planet, the team focused on hydrogen, a key component of water. </p><p>There are different kinds of hydrogen atoms. Most have just one proton in their nucleus, but a tiny fraction, about 0.02 percent, have both a proton and a neutron, making them heavier. These are known as deuterium, or &quot;heavy&quot; hydrogen. </p><p>Because the lighter kind escapes the planet&#x27;s atmosphere at a faster rate, the loss of most of the water to space would leave relatively more deuterium behind.</p><p>But given how much water the planet is believed to have started with, and the current rate of hydrogen escape observed by spacecraft, the current deuterium-to-hydrogen ratio cannot be explained by atmospheric loss alone.</p><div><strong>- Permanent loss -</strong></div><p>The study&#x27;s authors instead say there was a combination of two mechanisms: the trapping of water in minerals in the planet&#x27;s crust as well as the loss of water to the atmosphere. </p><p>&quot;Anytime that you have a rock and it&#x27;s interacting with water, there&#x27;s a series of very complex reactions that form a hydrated mineral,&quot; said Scheller. </p><p>This process, called &quot;chemical weathering,&quot; also takes place on Earth -- for example, in clay, also found on Mars.</p><p>But on our planet volcanoes recycle the water back into the atmosphere. Mars, however, doesn&#x27;t have tectonic plates, making the changes permanent.</p><p>According to the teams&#x27; simulations, the planet lost between most of its water between four to 3.7 billion years ago, which means &quot;Mars was pretty much like we see how it is today for the past three billion years,&quot; said Scheller.</p><p>She added she was excited about what the Perseverance rover, which landed last month for a multiyear science mission on the planet, might be able to contribute to the area of research.</p><p>&quot;The Perseverance rover is actually going to investigate exactly these processes and reactions that cause the sequestration of water in the crust,&quot; she said.</p><p>The team&#x27;s model contains multiple scenarios, which they to compare to new data acquired by the rover.</p><p>&quot;We can start to say, &#x27;These parts of the model aren&#x27;t working right and these parts are&#x27; and that&#x27;s going to help us get closer and closer and closer to the answer,&quot; said Scheller.</p><div><strong>la-ia/st</strong></div><div><strong>© Agence France-Presse</strong></div><figure class="op-interactive"><iframe allow="autoplay; fullscreen" frameBorder="0" height="100%" id="ivsplayer01" scrolling="no" src="https://player.ivideosmart.com/ivsplayer/v4/dist/html/iframe-src.html?iframeid=ivsplayer01&amp;key=e8c22c015ca9eafa76f1e3edfa03c603&amp;spid=3001339&amp;vid=1633406" width="100%"></iframe></figure><div class="iwantbar">Watch more in <a href="//www.iwantv.com.ph/">iWantv</a> or <a href="//tfc.tv/">TFC.tv</a></div>

<p>WASHINGTON - Billions of years ago, Mars was home to lakes and oceans -- but where all the water went to transform the planet into the desolate rock we know today has been something of a mystery.</p>

WASHINGTON - Billions of years ago, Mars was home to lakes and oceans -- but where all the water went to transform the planet into the desolate rock we know today has been something of a mystery.

Mars' 'missing' water is buried beneath surface: study

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Mars' 'missing' water is buried beneath surface: study

Lucie Aubourg and Issam Ahmed,

Agence France-Presse

Published March 17, 2021 06:58 AM PHT

Read More:

nasa

mars

planet mars

Eva Scheller

science

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