View of perseverance over the crater Jezero the ancient delta of the river.
The team of researchers in the new study, published Oct. 7 in the journal Science, analyzed photographs taken through NASA’s newly landed Perseverance rover and discovered how water flowed toward Mars billions of years ago.
Their research revealed points in the arid orb that can simply space out the much-sought after biosignatures.
“We know that water flowed to the surface at some point in the past, but we don’t know how long this activity lasted,” said lead study author Nicolas Mangold, a geologist at the University of Nantes in France.
Once upon a time in space, Mars was not a dry and harmful world, it was covered with cold rivers and lakes, much like those on Earth, and where there is water, there may simply be life.
The vast bodies of H2O dried up eons ago when the surroundings of the once blue planet disappeared, turning the surroundings into the inhospitable earth we know today.
Scientists have long been intrigued by lifestyles beyond water on Mars, which is why NASA sent Perseverance to the planet in hopes of locating fingerprints of life. Specifically, they sent the rover to a massive crater called Jezero.
This symbol of the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter shows the delta region of the jezero crater.
Believed to have once been flooded by water, Jezero Crater is home to an ancient river delta, a delta that may include symptoms of extraterrestrial life.
Deltas are reliefs generated through rocks and sediments dragged through the flow of a river. This stream carries biological molecules and bacteria in its wake, which means that the Jezero Delta can gently involve an accumulation of such materials.
In other words, they may just be fossilized building blocks of life.
With this in mind, the topics of interest proposed through the examination team to locate evidence of life on Mars are all anchored across this delta. Initially, Mangold says, he expected Perseverance to capture transparent photographs of the place, but unfortunately, Percy is a little too far from the old river for that.
“Despite our disappointment,” he said, “we tried to look at the delta from afar using our most productive cameras, and we got glorious results. “
Surprisingly, the researchers located the popular spaces simply by analyzing the main delta of the Jezero. They observed a nearby mound or mound of rock, nicknamed Kodiak. Kodiak is a component of the delta a little further away.
“You can believe that the delta expanded a little bit to the south and east, and then erosion removed some of the material,” Mangold said. “But Kodiak, miraculously, is preserved. “
Kodiak serves as a geological representation of the main features of the river delta. The stratigraphy, its layers of rock, is easy to see from a distance, according to the researchers.
“Using stratigraphy at Kodiak, it allows us to identify the maximum of deposits that are likely to be of interest for the preservation of life,” Mangold said.
He described the team’s first look at the images as a “shock. “
“The first symbol is [one] where we can see rocks,” he said. “A delta fault. . . it does not intend to produce giant rocks. It is intended to be consistent. “
These rocks, he said, mean that the Jezero River Delta is what’s called a Gilbert-type delta and take the form of a more potent water flow, like waves and tides, like that found in a lake. , the team believes that the flow of the river has suddenly become more intense throughout its life.
“A big question for us,” Mangold said, “is to perceive why this replacement exists in hydrological activity, because it’s probably the signature of a weather replacement. “
Kodiak also gave a review of the height of the ancient water frame. Mangold says it would have been about 8,202 feet (2,500 meters) tall, in the rock veins in the mound. This elevation has varied over time, he says, which is also consistent with the concept that the river has complex in a lake.
“That guy is actually the key,” he explained. Because it shows that there was a lake in Jezero, there is no doubt about it. . . in addition, replacement in horizontal stratification towards faults, which are deep in layers, indicates the water level beyond. “
Ultimately, all this wisdom led Mangold’s team to isolate places where remnants of life can be discovered: deeper layers of Kodiak that likely have mud-dominated tailings, as well as grains of sand. These types of sediments are known to involve biological molecules. that sustain life.
“Kodiak is available seamlessly through the rover because it’s a bit vertical,” Mangold said.
“But we’ve known some places on the main delta fault where we can have similar types of layers. These locations are some of our favorite targets for long rover trips. “