The scientific community has been insisting, confirming and proving for many years thatthere was water on Mars. It is clear to us. What remains to be confirmed is if there was life, which is possible due to the existence of the vital fluid, but something we didn’t know was the exact amount of water present on the red planet.
A new study published in Science Advances and cited on the Muy Interesante website suggests that much of this water may have reached the planet furthest from the Sun. via meteorites that hit its surface in the early years of the solar system’s life..
The research adds that, 4.5 billion years ago, Mars was covered in oceans up to 300 meters deep.
Additionally, the planet’s upper layer contains the chemical signatures of carbonaceous or C-type meteorites, which are the result of the aforementioned asteroid bombardment when its crust solidified.
Ice asteroid bombardment
Martin Bizzarro, study co-author and representative of the Center for Star and Planet Formation, explains the asteroid bombardment: “Mars was bombarded withice-filled asteroids. It occurred in thehe first 100 million years of the planet’s evolution. This planet has no plate tectonics, so its surface retains traces of its earliest history.“.
“Another interesting angle is that asteroids have also transported organic molecules that are biologically important for life“, added the expert.
To strengthen the study, researchers from the University of Copenhagen, Denmark, analyzed the concentration of a rare chromium isotope, called chromium-54, in samples of meteorites that arrived from Mars to Earth.
Looking at the difference between the amount of chromium-54 in our planet’s meteorite samples that come from the surface or mantle of Mars, scientists were able to estimate the magnitude of the asteroids that collided with the red planet..