![]() ![]() ![]() We know that some of these rocks and minerals only form at pressures and temperatures deep below the surface of Mars water must have been present deep below the surface. The orbiters and robots that we have sent to Mars have identified rocks and minerals that formed in the presence of water, including some of the same minerals and rocks found on Earth’s ocean floor. That mechanism doesn’t work on Mars because there is no plate tectonics or subduction. This moves 150-300 metric tons of water a year from the surface to the interior of the Earth-a pretty efficient way to remove water from the surface. Those water-altered rocks are carried into subduction zones by the motion of tectonic plates. On Earth, water reacts with rocks on and below the ocean floor. Where this water went is one of the great puzzles in our solar system.Īs a geophysicist who spends a lot of time thinking about subduction zones on Earth, I’m even more surprised than most people by the disappearance of water from the surface of Mars. There are a number of lines of evidence that at some time in the past there was more water on the surface of Mars compared with the cold desert conditions we observe today. Professor, Geoscience, Virginia Tech, who studies the formation and evolution of planets ![]()
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