Liquid CO₂ May Have Shaped Mars’ Ancient Terrain, Not Just Water, Study Suggests

Caption:At left: Steel is seen to corrode into siderite (FeCO3) when immersed in subcritical liquid carbon dioxide (LCO2). At right: Samples of albite (a plagioclase feldspar) and a sandstone core are observed to form red rhodochrosite (MnCO3) when exposed to supercritical CO2 in the presence of a water solution with potassium chloride and manganese chloride, with particularly strong reaction near the interface of the two solutions. In both experiments, water saturation is provided by floating LCO2 on the water. Under the lower pressure conditions characteristic of early Mars, the water would float on the LCO2. Credits:Photos courtesy of Todd Schaef/PNNL (left) and Earl Mattson/Mattson Hydrology (right).

A new study published in Nature Geoscience proposes that liquid carbon dioxide, alongside water, may have shaped Mars’ ancient surface features and mineral composition. The perspective article, led by Michael Hecht, principal investigator of the MOXIE instrument aboard the NASA Mars Rover Perseverance and research scientist at MIT’s Haystack Observatory and former associate director, challenges the long-held assumption that water alone created Mars’ dry river channels and lake beds. “Understanding how sufficient liquid water was able to flow on early Mars to explain the morphology and mineralogy we see today is probably the greatest unsettled question of Mars science,” states … Continue reading Liquid CO₂ May Have Shaped Mars’ Ancient Terrain, Not Just Water, Study Suggests

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