Ancient Mars hosted habitable environments: study

Scientists have found evidence for widespread buried deposits of iron- and calcium-rich carbonates on Mars, which suggests that the red planet once hosted habitable environments with liquid water. “Identification of these ancient carbonates and clays on Mars represents a window into history when the climate on Mars was very different from the cold and dry desert of today,” said Janice Bishop of the SETI Institute in the U.S. Carbonates beneath the surface of Mars point to a warmer and wetter environment in that planet’s past. Scientists believe that if water did once flow on the surface of Mars, the planet’s bedrock should be full of carbonates and clays, which would be evidence that Mars once hosted habitable environments with liquid water. Carbonate-bearing rocks The study has highlighted evidence of carbonate-bearing rocks in multiple sites across Mars, including Lucaya crater, where carbonates and clays 3.8 billion years old were buried by as much as 5 km of lava and caprock.