Recent observations made by the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter probe from the orbit of Mars have revealed a cavity, strange in structure and shape. According to scientists at the University of Texas at Austin, this depression was most likely formed by a volcano under a glacier and, therefore, is a warm, chemically active environment, ideal for microbes to exist in it.
The findings were published this month in Icarus, the international journal of solar system research.
The cavity inside the crater is at the edge of the Hellas Basin, surrounded by ancient glacial deposits. It first came to attention in 2009, when crack-like features were noticed in the images of the depressions taken by the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter probe. They were like 'ice cauldrons' on Earth – geological formations found in Iceland and Greenland, created by volcanic eruptions from under the ice sheet.
Gro Pedersen, a volcanologist at the University of Iceland with no affiliation with the current study, agreed that the trenches are promising places for future research and the possible discovery of life.
“This is really very similar to the ice cauldrons that we were able to find on Earth, and from this point of view alone, they should be of great interest,” Pedersen said. “Their very existence can carry critical information about the properties of subsurface material and volcanic interactions important for the potential existence of life.”
Sources: sciencedaily
