Wednesday, October 13, 2010

Mars carbon dioxide finding hints at ancient life

Mars the close associative of our earth was proved to be once rich in carbondioxide suggesting the life on the red planet in past,

wide spread deposits of carbonate rock are buried a few miles beneath the surface of mars,according to new research. If These deposits are abundant theywould have helped make it a much wetter and warmer place hundreds of millions of years ago.
These deposits were exposed by a massive meteorite impact ,the team believes there represent ancient sediments that were subsequently buried by volcanic activity from syrtis major.
Joseph michalski of the planetary science institute,arizona and paul niles of the nasa johnson space centre said the surface of mars is now cold,dry,acidic and inhospitable to life. Similar conditions may have persisted for billions of years suggesting for the best place to search for habitable environments is the sub surface .

The researchers said one hint of habitable conditions at depth is the presence of atmospheric methane which may have formed through hydrothermal process in the crust in the presence of carbondioxide.

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