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(GIST OF SCIENCE REPORTER) Liquid water in the Martian mid-crust

(SEPTEMBER-2024)

Recently scientist for the first time have discovered presence of liquid water hidden deep within Mars mid crust.

The study, ‘Liquid water in the Martian mid-crust’, was published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).
While scientists have known about water ice at the Martian poles for a long time, this is the first time they have discovered liquid water on the planet.
According to the new study, there could be oceans’ worth of liquid water deep in the rocky outer crust of Mars.
For their study, the researchers used the data from NASA’s Mars Insight Lander, which touched down on the planet back in 2018 and retired in December 2022.

The NASA’s Mars Insight Lander was equipped with a seismometer, which recorded four years’ of seismic waves — created by Marsquakes and meteorite impacts — deep inside the planet. In total, Insight recorded more than 1,300 quakes while it was active.

The researchers examined the speed of these seismic waves and were able to determine what material they were most likely to be moving through.
To do so, they used “a geophysical model identical to one used to map underground aquifers and oil fields here on Earth, and employed it to analyse data collected by lander on Mars.
They found that the data are best explained if, deep below the surface of Mars, there lies a layer of fractured igneous rock, such as granite, whose cracks are filled with liquid water.
The layer is located at depths of about 10 to 20 km in the Martian crust.
The study suggests that the water could have seeped from the surface billions of years ago when Mars harboured rivers, lakes, and possibly oceans.

The findings could help researchers better understand the water cycle of Mars, which in turn could unlock questions related to the evolution of the planet’s climate, surface, and interior.
The discovery could also provide impetus to the ongoing search for evidence of life on Mars.
Although the discovery of liquid water does not mean that there is life on Mars, it sure raises the possibility of finding a habitable environment.