Scientists have found evidence of an ancient freshwater lake on Mars well suited to support microbial life, researchers said.
The lake, located inside Gale Crater where rover Curiosity landed in August 2012, likely covered an area 50 kilometres long and five kilometres wide, though its size varied over time.
Analysis of sedimentary deposits gathered by Curiosity shows the lake existed for at least tens of thousands of years, and possibly longer, California Institute geologist John Grotzinger told reporters at the American Geophysical Union conference in San Francisco.
“We’ve come to appreciate what is a habitable system of environments that includes the lake, the associated streams and, at times when the lake was dry, the groundwater,” he said.
Analysis of clays drilled out from two rock samples in the area known as Yellowknife Bay show the freshwater lake existed at a time when other parts of Mars were dried up or dotted with shallow, acidic, salty pools ill-suited for life.
In contrast, the lake in Gale Crater could have supported a simple class of rock-eating microbes, known as chemolithoautotrophs, which on Earth are commonly found in caves and hydrothermal vents on the ocean floor, Grotzinger said.
Scientists also reported that the clays, which form in the presence of water, were younger than expected, a finding that expands the window of time for when Mars may have been suited for life.
Previous studies from Mars orbiters, landers and rovers have provided increasing evidence of a warmer, wetter, more Earth-like Mars in the planet’s past. Ancient rocks bear tell-tale chemical fingerprints of past interactions with water.
The planet’s surface is riddled with geologic features carved by water, such as channels, dried-up riverbeds, lake deltas and other sedimentary deposits.