© 2024 New Atlas
Space

New evidence of groundwater-fed lake on Mars

By David Szondy
January 24, 2013
New evidence of groundwater-fed lake on Mars
Artist's concept of the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter
Artist's concept of the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter
View 12 Images
Diagram of the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (Image: NASA)
1/12
Diagram of the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (Image: NASA)
Artist's concept of the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter using its Shallow Radar (SHARAD) (Image: NASA/JPL)
2/12
Artist's concept of the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter using its Shallow Radar (SHARAD) (Image: NASA/JPL)
Artist's concept of the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter’s Shallow Radar (SHARAD) instrument for probing beneath the surface of Mars (image: NASA/JPL)
3/12
Artist's concept of the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter’s Shallow Radar (SHARAD) instrument for probing beneath the surface of Mars (image: NASA/JPL)
Artist's concept of the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter
4/12
Artist's concept of the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter
Artist's concept showing how the MRO’s instruments study water on Mars (Image: NASA/JPL)
5/12
Artist's concept showing how the MRO’s instruments study water on Mars (Image: NASA/JPL)
Artist's concept of the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter during its Mars Orbit Insertion process (Image: NASA/JPL)
6/12
Artist's concept of the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter during its Mars Orbit Insertion process (Image: NASA/JPL)
Artist's concept of the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter using its the Mars Climate Sounder (Image: NASA/JPL)
7/12
Artist's concept of the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter using its the Mars Climate Sounder (Image: NASA/JPL)
Comparison of the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter and its predecessors, Mars Global Surveyor and Mars Odyssey (Image: NASA/JPL)
8/12
Comparison of the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter and its predecessors, Mars Global Surveyor and Mars Odyssey (Image: NASA/JPL)
Artist's concept of the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter in its aerobraking stage (Image: NASA/JPL)
9/12
Artist's concept of the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter in its aerobraking stage (Image: NASA/JPL)
Comparison of the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter’s data return capacity with that of its predecessors (Image: NASA/JPL)
10/12
Comparison of the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter’s data return capacity with that of its predecessors (Image: NASA/JPL)
Artist’s concept of the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter as it orbits over the Martian poles (Image: (NASA/JPL)
11/12
Artist’s concept of the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter as it orbits over the Martian poles (Image: (NASA/JPL)
Layers with carbonates inside McLaughlin Crater on Mars (Image: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Univ. of Arizona)
12/12
Layers with carbonates inside McLaughlin Crater on Mars (Image: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Univ. of Arizona)
View gallery - 12 images

NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter has found new evidence of a wet underground environment that once existed on the Red Planet. Using its Compact Reconnaissance Imaging Spectrometer for Mars (CRISM), the orbiter examined the floor of McLaughlin Crater in the Northern Hemisphere of the planet and found evidence of the formation of carbonates and clay in a groundwater-fed lake in the ancient past.

McLaughlin Crater (21.9°N 337.63°E) is located on the western side of the Arabia Terra region of Mars, at a low regional elevation where groundwater-fed lakes are likely to occur. It’s 57 miles (92 km) in diameter and 1.4 miles (2.2 km) deep, which is deep enough to collect ground water. There are no large stream beds feeding into the crater, but there are small channels inside it indicating an ancient lake surface.

Findings indicate the presence of layered, flat rocks at the bottom of the crater. These are partly made of carbonates and clay minerals that require water to form. If a lake was present inside McLaughlin, it would provide a wet environment where life might have existed.

Layers with carbonates inside McLaughlin Crater on Mars (Image: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Univ. of Arizona)
Layers with carbonates inside McLaughlin Crater on Mars (Image: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Univ. of Arizona)

"A number of studies using CRISM data have shown rocks exhumed from the subsurface by meteor impact were altered early in Martian history, most likely by hydrothermal fluids," said Joseph Michalski of the Planetary Science Institute in Tucson, Arizona and London's Natural History Museum. "These fluids trapped in the subsurface could have periodically breached the surface in deep basins such as McLaughlin Crater, possibly carrying clues to subsurface habitability."

The MRO was launched August 12, 2005 from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida and arrived in Mars orbit on March 10, 2006. Originally scheduled for a two-year mission, the unmanned probe carries a suite of instruments including high-resolution cameras, spectrometers and radar designed to study the climate of Mars with a particular emphasis on the water cycle in the Martian atmosphere and looking for water and water-formed minerals on the surface.

The findings will be published next week in Nature Geoscience.

Source: NASA

View gallery - 12 images

Tags

SpaceNASAMarsMars Reconnaissance Orbiter
No comments
David Szondy
David Szondy
David Szondy is a playwright, author and journalist based in Seattle, Washington. A retired field archaeologist and university lecturer, he has a background in the history of science, technology, and medicine with a particular emphasis on aerospace, military, and cybernetic subjects. In addition, he is the author of four award-winning plays, a novel, reviews, and a plethora of scholarly works ranging from industrial archaeology to law. David has worked as a feature writer for many international magazines and has been a feature writer for New Atlas since 2011.

Most Viewed

Load More
0 comments
There are no comments. Be the first!