Water on Mars

Origins of water• The impact of asteroids

to mars surface.

• Polar caps of ice

• Subsurface finds of reservoirs of water

Possibility *Organic and carbon compounds

Nano fossils

Geological changes

Weather changes

Co2 instead of H2o in liquid form.

Discovery of the mineral hematite

• Mars Global Surveyor discovered a large exposure of the mineral in Eagle Crater.

• Opportunity was sent to this location for further exploration.

Opportunity lands on Eagle Crater

• Minerals identified and mapped by rovers.

• Among these hematite which often forms in the presence of water.

• Also Goethite which only forms when water is involved.

Blueberries

• Hematite inclusions discovered by Opportunity.

• Embedded in the rocks and were released over time by erosion.

• These blueberries are spread out evenly inside the rocks.

Victoria Crater

• Larger and deeper than Eagle Crater.

• Presence of sulfur-rich materials throughout study area which indicates acidic watery environments.

Columbia Hills

• It is located in GUSEV Crater.

• Spirit used its RAT to locate sulfur.

• The rock was named Peace after Martin Luther King.

• Probable evidence of past alteration by water.

Endeavour Crater

• Curiosity part of the Mars Exploration Project.

• There was clay with smectites that form in pH neutral water.

• This is evidence that the water was consumable.

Works Cited

http://tinyurl.com/lpzqzyv accessed Jan. 28th, 2014.

http://tinyurl.com/mvql56t accessed Jan. 28th, 2014.

Mcewen, Alfred S.1. "Mars In Motion." Scientific American 308.5 (2013): 58-65. General Science Full Text (H.W. Wilson). Web. 16 Jan. 2014.

http://tinyurl.com/n3xjaky accessed Jan. 28th, 2014.

Hubbard, Scott. Exploring Mars: Chronicles from a Decade of Discovery. Tucson: University of Arizona Press, 2011.Web.

Barlow, Nadine G. Mars: An Introduction to Its Interior, Surface and Atmosphere. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2008. Web.