What can craters on Mars teach scientists about the Red Planet’s climate history? This is what a recent study published in Geology hopes to address as a team of researchers investigated ice buildup within craters on Mars and what this could indicate for past ice ages on the Red Planet. This study has the potential to help scientists better understand the climate history of Mars and what this could mean for ancient life on the Red Planet.
For the study, the researchers analyzed the slopes and potential ice deposits within mid-latitude craters on Mars using Context Camera (CTX) and High-Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) images. The goal of the study was to ascertain the amount of ice build-up within certain craters and what could teach scientists about past ice ages on Mars, specifically within the last few hundred million years. In the end, the researchers found that Mars experienced several ice ages between 640 and 98 million years ago, indicated by the different stages of ice deposits within the craters driven by changes in the axial tilt of Mars.
Diagram depicting Mars axial tilt changes, resulting in location changes of ice across the planet, specifically within craters. (Credit: Associate Professor Trishit Ruj from Institute for Planetary Materials, Okayama University, Japan)
“Mars went through repeated ice ages, but the amount of ice deposited in craters steadily shrank over time,” said Dr. Trishit Ruj, who is an associate professor in Okayama University’s Institute for Planetary Materials and lead author of the study. “These icy ‘time capsules’ not only reveal how Mars lost its water but also mark places where future explorers might tap into hidden ice resources.”
Billions of years ago, Mars was much warmer and wetter than today, exhibiting cascading seas and lakes of liquid water while volcanoes replenished the atmosphere with carbon dioxide. However, things changed drastically, as scientists have hypothesized the interior of Mars cooled over hundreds of millions of years, resulting in the lapse of the planet’s magnetic field and extinct volcanic activity. As a result, the surface liquid water evaporated to space and the atmosphere became incredibly thin.
What new discoveries about past climates on Mars will researchers make in the coming years and decades? Only time will tell, and this is why we science!
As always, keep doing science & keep looking up!
Sources: Geology, EurekAlert!
