“Black Beauty”. Meteorite discovered in 2011 turns out to have traces of water on Mars

New evidence of the existence of hot water on Mars could provide new clues about the existence of life on the planet.

“Our data suggest the presence of water in the crust of Mars at a height comparable to the first evidence of water on the Earth’s surface, about 4.4 billion years ago“, stated the main author of the published in November in Science Advances, Jack Gillespieresearcher at the Faculty of Geosciences and Environment at the University of Lausanne, Switzerland.

“This discovery provides new evidence to understand the planetary evolution of Mars, the processes that took place on the planet and its potential to have harbored life“, adds the researcher, cited by .

“Black Beauty”also known as NWA 7034, was found in the Sahara Desert in 2011. It was ejected from the Martian surface after another celestial object hit the planet between 5 million and 10 million years ago, and its fragments have served as an already popular source for studying Mars for years.

The study focused on the only mineral grain zirconita found in the meteorite, which is already in the past.

The team’s analysis shows that water was present only 100 million years after the planet formedwhich suggests that Mars may have been capable of supporting life at a certain point in its history.

“Black Beauty contains hundreds of fragments of rocks and minerals, each with a different part of the 4.5 billion years of Martian history,” said the study co-author. Aaron Cavosieplanetary scientist at Curtin University. “It is the only source of pieces for the geological puzzle of pre-Noachian Mars.”

“The Noachian period occurred approximately 4.1/3.7 billion years ago, and little is known from direct measurements dating back to the pre-Noachian period on Mars, between 4.5 billion and 4.1 billion years ago“although it is crucial to understand because it serves as the first page in the history book of Mars,” Cavosie explained.

On Earth, the zircons from hydrothermal systems — formed when water is heated by underground volcanic activity, for example the upward flow of hot magma — have similar patterns to those found in Black Beautyexplica a CNN.

So, if hydrothermal systems existed in the Martian crust 4.45 billion years agoit is likely that liquid water reached the surfaceexplain the scientists.

“If hydrothermal systems were a stable feature on early Mars, this would indicate that habitability conditions may have persisted over a considerable period of time,” Cavosie said. “This is now a testable hypothesis which can be addressed by collecting more data on Martian zirconites.”