2023-08-12 21:40:03
A new research paper reveals that the same conditions that gave rise to cracks could have been favorable to microbial life on Mars. Scientists aren’t sure how life began on Earth, but one prevailing theory is that the constant cycles of wet and dry conditions on Earth helped put together the complex chemical building blocks needed to start life. Which is why the patchwork of well-preserved ancient mud cracks found by NASA’s Mars Curiosity is so exciting to the mission team. The paper in Nature explains how the distinctive hexagonal pattern of these mud cracks provides the first evidence for the dry-wet cycles of early Mars. According to Russia Today, the paper’s lead author, William Rabin of the Institute for Research in Astrophysics and Planetary Sciences in France, said, “These mud cracks are formed when wet and dry conditions occur frequently, and perhaps seasonally.” Curiosity gradually ascends into the sedimentary layers of Mount Sharp, which is three miles (five kilometers) high in Gale Crater. The rover detected mud cracks in 2021 after excavating a sample from a rock target called Bontour, which was found inside a transitional zone between a layer rich in clay and a higher layer rich in salty minerals called sulfates. While clay minerals usually form in water, sulfates tend to form as the water dries. The minerals prevalent in each area reflect different eras in the history of Mount Crater. The transition zone between them provides a record of when prolonged droughts spread and the lakes and rivers that once filled the crater began to recede.
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