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Mars: Ancient Land of Lakes? WASHINGTON -- The planet Mars may have been a land of lakes in its earliest period, with layers of Earthlike sedimentary rock that could harbor the fossils of any ancient Martian life, scientists reported on Monday. NASA's Mars Global Surveyor spacecraft captured images with its Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) of apparent sediments in craters and chasms that look very much like Earth. The images and scientific findings will be published in Friday's Science journal. The sedimentary rock on Mars dates from the earliest span of Martian history, between 4.3 billion and 3.5 billion years ago. These sedimentary layers appear to be made of fine-grained materials deposited in horizontal layers, much as sedimentary rock is deposited on Earth, according to researchers Michael Malin and Kenneth Edgett of Malin Space Science Systems of San Diego, California. Other forces can produce the appearance of sedimentary rock, but the images show many uniformly thick layers, and this more than likely means water was present, Malin said in a statement. "Some of the MOC images of these outcrops show hundreds and hundreds of identically thick layers, which is almost impossible to have without water," Malin said. This latest evidence of possible water on Mars in the past fuels interest in the planet, seen by many as a virtual twin to Earth. Liquid water is seen as a prerequisite for earthly life.
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Page created December 5,
2000, last update December 5, 2000. This Reuters article was found on http://www.wired.com. Direct all questions and comments to VoodooMirage@hotmail.com. |
