YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK — Could there have been hydrothermal pools on Mars? This week’s Caldera Chronicles from the Yellowstone Volcano Observatory explores some of the parallels between activity on the surface of Mars and in Yellowstone National Park.
The article features research from Greg Vaughan, research scientist with the U.S. Geological Survey, and Steve Ruff, associate research professor in the School of Earth and Space Exploration at Arizona State University.
According to Vaughan and Ruff, billions of years ago Mars had a thicker atmosphere, a warmer climate, active volcanoes and water. That water today is frozen either in underground ice or polar ice caps, but given the different atmosphere and other evidence, the scientists suspect that years ago there were hydrothermal systems on Mars.
Since the 1960s, Mars has been a subject of exploration, and in 2007, silica deposits where discovered on Mars within the Gusev crater. In addition to the silica deposits, there are remains of volcanic ash, basaltic rocks and magmatic activity within the crater capable of generating a hydrothermal system. Silica deposits are found around most of Yellowstone’s thermal pools, so the data in aggregate piqued the interest of scientists.
These silica deposits, otherwise known as silica sinter, are the white, lightweight “dust” formed from rhyolitic volcanic rocks. When hot, they rise to the surface and settle around geysers and hot springs.
On Earth, sinter deposits often host microbial life, and so researchers have targeted these deposits to guide efforts in the search for ancient microbial life on Mars. As of yet, the fingerlike formations of the silica on Mars are not known to contain organic matter.
Even so, scientists still beg the question in the article: “Is there, or has there ever been, life elsewhere in the solar system?” Billions of years ago, scientists believer Mars was warmer and had water; so, could there have been hot springs on Mars? Understanding microogranisms and the evidence they leave behind could be the key.
“There is also evidence of geyser activity on some of the icy moons in the outer solar system, such as Neptune’s moon, Triton, and Saturn’s moon, Enceladus,” Vaughan and Ruff write. “Jupiter’s moon, Europa is another outer solar system body that has a liquid water ocean underneath its crust of water ice and may host geysers that are spurting out samples of this water.”
In 2024 a probe was launched by NASA to further investigate Jupiter’s moon. It will return in 2030.
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