Meteorites reveal the multiplicity of water sources on Mars

I thought about the Mahdi

A study released by the University of Arizona - published on March 30 in the journal Nature Geosciences - demonstrated the possibility of the existence of two different sources of "minimal" water in the Red Planet (Mars) early in its history. Thus, this study contradicts the prevailing belief about the emergence of Mars from an ocean of magma such as Earth and the Moon.

Hydrogen isotopes
Many researchers are trying to know the history of Mars water, where did it come from? And what time did you get trapped within the crust (surface) of this planet? Where did the groundwater come from? The most important is the information that can tell us how the Red Planet formed and developed?

That is why Jessica Barnes, associate professor of planetary science at the University of Arizona with her team, conducted a chemical analysis of the Black Beauty and Allan Hills 84001 to research the history of the origins of Mars and its planetary origins.

Indeed, the team was able to collect information about the history of water on Mars by searching for evidence of two types of hydrogen isotopes. The first is called "light hydrogen" which contains one proton in its nucleus.

The other is called a "heavy hydrogen / deuterium" that contains a proton and a neutron in its nucleus. The ratio of these two isotopes is useful in understanding the potential origins of water in the rocks, minerals and crystals in which they are found.

Check for dandruff
Barnes's team investigated the formation of hydrogen isotopes for the Mars crust. Their study focused on specimens that they knew originated from the crust of Mars in particular, namely black meteorite and Alan Hills.

Initially, the researchers found that the content of hydrogen isotopes in the atmosphere of Mars differs from that found in terrestrial groundwater and ocean water, which contains both light and heavy hydrogen.

But the atmosphere of Mars contains only deuterium or heavy hydrogen. Scientists suggest that the solar wind has stripped it of light hydrogen.

Then the researchers found that the theoretical ratios in the studied meteorite samples decreased to average values ​​between those recorded in the ground rocks and those observed in the Martian atmosphere.

By comparing the results of the study with previous studies, the team concluded that this is the case of Mars four billion years ago. Which raised questions about the fact that the Martian crust remains unchanged over all this time.

Martian volcanic rocks
It is well known that the crust is formed from the solidification of the molten material on the surface, and the prevailing hypothesis is that the inner part of Mars was more like layers of rock, and therefore it is assumed that the ratio of the isotope of hydrogen is similar to that in the layers of earth's rock.

This means that the change in the proportions of hydrogen isotopes in Mars samples was due to ground pollution or meteor penetration into the atmosphere.

The researchers found that two different geochemical types of Martian volcanic rock contain water in different hydrogen isotope ratios.

They discovered that the enriched "chargotide" contains more deuterium than is recorded in the ground rocks. And it turns out that if you mix different proportions of hydrogen from both types of Martian rocks, we will get that value in the Martian crust.

The researchers believe that it is possible for two rock asteroids to collide with a contrasting water content without a complete fusion of the water stored in them. Thus, they see that through their research, they have detected two different hydrogen tanks. Which indicates the multiple groundwater sources in Mars.

This study opens the door to a new theory about the emergence of Mars, which requires further research, investigation and controversy to prove its validity or error.