Recent research indicates that traces of water have been found in Martian meteorites that have fallen to Earth. Mineral grains containing zircon found in the meteorites provide the oldest direct evidence ever discovered: 4.45 billion years ago, Mars had hot springs suitable for human habitation.
This discovery opens up new avenues for understanding whether Mars was once habitable for humans in ancient times. It also lends further support to the data collected by the spacecraft circling and exploring Mars, which have already revealed evidence of ancient rivers and lakes on the planet’s surface.
Scientists analyzed samples from the “Black Beauty” meteorite (also known as NWA 7034) discovered in the Sahara Desert in 2011. This meteorite was ejected from the surface of Mars by an impact from another celestial body about 5 to 10 million years ago. Its fragments have been a crucial source of studying ancient Mars for several years.
The new research was published in the journal “Science Advances” on November 22, focusing on the zircon grains found in the meteorite. The team’s analysis indicated that “the presence of water in the Martian crust dates back approximately 4.4 billion years, similar to the earliest evidence of water on Earth’s surface.” This suggests that Mars may have supported life at some point in its history.
Professor Carl Agee, the director of the University of New Mexico’s Institute of Meteoritics, first presented this space rock to the scientific community in 2013.
Dr. Aaron Cavosie, a planetary scientist and senior lecturer at the Space Science and Technology Centre, who was a co-author of the study, mentioned that the rock also contains the oldest zircon ever found.
Zircon is a tough mineral widely used in jewelry, ceramic tiles, and medical implants. It helps scientists understand past environments and determine conditions during its crystallization, including temperature and interactions with water.
During the analysis of the zircon grains, the research team detected unusually high levels of iron, sodium, and aluminum. This indicates that fluid rich in water left these traces when the zircon formed 4.45 billion years ago.
Similar patterns were observed between the zircon from “Black Beauty” and zircons from hydrothermal systems on Earth, which form when underground water is heated by volcanic activity.
“Our experience on Earth shows that water is crucial for habitable environments,” Cavosie said. “Many environments on Earth harbor life in hydrothermal systems, including hot springs and hydrothermal vents.”
“If hydrothermal systems were a stable feature of early Mars, it suggests that habitable conditions may have persisted for a considerable period of time,” he added. “This hypothesis can be tested by gathering more data from Martian zircons.”
Briony Horgan, a research scientist for the Perseverance Mars rover mission and a professor at the Mars Science Institute, stated that until samples can be directly returned from Mars, the “Black Beauty” meteorite remains one of the best windows into understanding how the Martian crust formed and the surface conditions in early Mars. Horgan was not involved in the aforementioned study.