Don Juan Lake in Antarctica is the most saline reservoir on Earth, therefore, this little pond never freezes. To researchers managed to find a new hint of where so much salt comes from, and the results can clarify the issue of liquid water on Mars.
A photo from open sources So watched the lake. (Photo by work.) “The idea was simple,” says James Dixon of Brown University (USA). – We decided to take 16 thousand photos lakes for two months and find out which direction flows water. Having received the images, we compared them with other measurements, made by us, and the story told itself. “It turned out that the water level grew in accordance with the daily temperature, i.e. moderate midday snowmelt can be considered one of the sources Don Juan’s water, but this did not clarify the situation with salt. Then scientists drew attention to the tubules of loose deposits around the lake, rich in calcium chloride. When the water level rose, in these dark stripes appeared in the places, which experts interpret as a result of the absorption of moisture from air by salt. In some moment a meltwater stream blows this water along with the chloride that has absorbed it calcium in the pond. It is easy to imagine that once such Don Juan existed on Mars – along with rivers and even oceans. Today, water is on or near the surface of the Red Planet can only be frozen, very salty or thoroughly mixed with minerals. Drains around Lake Don Juan suspiciously similar to the “spring streams” recently discovered on Mars – mysterious dark, narrow lines that periodically appear and grow on the slopes and cliffs of the warm regions of the Red Planet. Some believe that they indicate seasonal flows very salt water. Moreover, chloride salts were indeed seen on Mars, and those that are exactly the same as in Antarctica can absorb moisture from the air. By the way, a new study showed also that Don Juan Lake does not dry out, despite the absence of underground sources – the same conditions should be on Mars. By the way, in the subsoil of the Atacama desert in northern Chile, salt-loving microorganisms. And if the salt ponds on Krasnaya the planet are the same hydrological systems that the lake Don Juan, that is, the hope that there may be unbending microbiota. In other words, the most inhabited places of Mars resemble the most inhospitable corners of the Earth. Research results published in the journal Scientific Reports. Prepared by LiveScience materials.
Antarctica Water Mars
