Hydraotes Chaos, this ancient mud lake, is now one of the potential landing sites in the event of a new Mars mission. A billion years ago, volcanoes were expelling tons of clay that likely contained biomolecules stored underground for several billion years.
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Volcanic processes cannot be reduced to… flowsflows to washwash Or ashes. Some volcanoes can spew… mud! If this kind of VolcanoesVolcanoesWhich we refer to as “sedimentary,” and they are less frequent than classic volcanoes, but they are nonetheless observed in many places around the world, and even on Mars!
Unlike their terrestrial counterparts. VolcanoesVolcanoes However, the mud from the Red Planet will not be active for long, but the vast dry mud lakes we observe today could be of great interest in the search for biosignatures. By studying Hydraotes Chaos, a team of researchers reached this conclusion.
A huge network of aquifers was formed 4 billion years ago
Unlike the effects of mudflows, which are common on Mars, hydrautes may result from mud being spewed directly onto a very old aquifer. Thanks to the analysis of satellite images, scientists were able to identify structures that were interpreted as ancient mud volcanoes and reconstruct the history of this place. The results have been published In the magazine Scientific reports.
Intervention from Igneous rocksIgneous rocks This can then melt or cause the level of ice buried in the basement to melt dryingdrying huge of Evaporated rocksEvaporated rocks (salts). It is likely that the liquid water formed was collected within an interconnected network of underground reservoirs several kilometers long and wide. This first part of history occurred about 4 billion years ago, at a time when the Red Planet was rich in water and when the production of biomolecules was possible. Thus, this giant aquifer could have collected these biomolecules, keeping them protected for 3 billion years. Because the age of the Mud Lake seems rather young: only a billion years!
Biomolecules have been safe for many billions of years
In fact, it was only at this moment that the mud volcanoes became active, expelling under gas pressure a muddy liquid likely laden with biomolecules that do not decompose by remaining on the surface. It is therefore possible that the dried mud lake of Hydraotes Chaos preserved these traces of primitive biological activity and concentrated them on Mars. This plain is therefore one of the expected landing sites for a future mission.
