UNITED STATES (VOP TODAY NEWS) – The decay of radioactive elements could provide hypothetical microbes in the Martian crust with energy for hundreds of millions of years. The idea is that the radiation splits water into oxygen and hydrogen, and the latter can serve as food for microorganisms.
In addition, emissions of this gas into the atmosphere during geological disasters could cause large-scale warming of the climate of the Red Planet.
Such a conclusion is made in a scientific article published in the journal Earth and Planetary Science Letters team led by Jesse Tarnas ( Jesse Tarnas ) from Brown University in the US.
Most planetologists agree that in the old days the oceans were splashing on the Red Planet and the hot springs were beating . However, the duration of such “wet” periods is questionable. According to modern models, they could only be a moment in the geological history of Mars. Most of the time the temperature there did not rise above the freezing point of water. Therefore, the crust of the planet could be a more comfortable habitat than its frozen surface.
It is pertinent to recall that at least half of the earth’s biomass is made up of the microbes of the earth’s crust. They do not need either oxygen or sunlight and receive energy through chemical reactions.
Many of these organisms specialize in the consumption of hydrogen. The source of this gas is the decomposition of water molecules under the action of natural radiation. Radiation is caused by the decay of radioactive elements contained in the earth’s crust, primarily uranium.
Could the same process be characteristic of ancient Mars? This question and figured out the team Tarnas.
Scientists used data from a gamma-ray receiver mounted on a Mars Odyssey orbiter . This allowed them to find out the amount of radioactive isotopes of potassium and thorium in the crust of the Red Planet. Based on this information, they calculated the uranium content in it. Considering that these elements decay at a constant and well-known rate, it was easy to calculate their concentration in any geological epoch. Due to this, astronomers have estimated the radiation flux splitting water molecules.
The next step was to find out how much moisture could contain the crust of Mars. Approximately assessing its density, scientists have calculated how porous it is and how much water could enter these pores.
Finally, the question arose of how deep the bacteria could live. This zone should not lie too close to either the cold surface or the hot core. The authors found the desired depth, based on the model of the internal structure of Mars .
When scientists summarized the results, they had a planetary layer several kilometers thick. In the period 3.7–4.1 billion years ago, there was enough hydrogen to feed the microbes, and these conditions persisted for hundreds of millions of years.
“In calculations based on fundamental physics and chemistry, we showed that there was probably enough dissolved hydrogen in the ancient Martian subsurface layer to power the global subsurface biosphere,” Tarnas concludes . where underground life exists. ”
This conclusion is compatible with both “warm” and “cold” climate models of the Red Planet. The latter are even better, because the ice sheet does not allow hydrogen to evaporate.
“People have the idea that the cold early climate of Mars was life threatening. But our conclusion is that in a cold climate, there was more chemical energy to live underground,” Tarnas says. “We think this can change people’s perceptions.” relations between climate and (hypothetical – ed.) Ancient life on Mars”.
If there were once favorable conditions for life, perhaps it is still warming there, or at least left fossils behind it ? This question is to be clarified in future Martian expeditions.
Interestingly, this does not even have to drill to great depths. Pieces of rock are sometimes knocked out by meteorites. And among the sites that claim the honorary title of landing for the Mars 2020 mission , at least two have similar geological formations.
Experts came to another curious conclusion. The fall of large asteroids or large-scale volcanic eruptions could release hydrogen accumulated in the crust of the planet. Such an event would cause a short-term (on a geological scale) climate warming, so that the average temperature on Mars would rise above zero Celsius.
