Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

What Geology and Mineralogy Tell Us About Water on Mars

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
Astrobiology

Abstract

Since Mars has attracted much interest as a potentially accessible habitable planet, the greatest number of spacecraft has been sent to this planet among any of the other extraterrestrial bodies. The Mars exploration has provided evidence for a variety of water-related geological activities: fluvial landforms, paleo-oceans and lakes, and aqueous alteration and weathering of the surface materials. These geologic observations clearly indicated the existence of liquid water on the surface of Mars, while the most recent investigations have uncovered the possible existence of subsurface water (ice) world, which may be more favorable to extant or even present life on Mars.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 169.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Hardcover Book
USD 219.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

References

  • Bibring JP et al (2006) Global mineralogical and aqueous mars history derived from OMEGA/Mars express data. Science 312(5772):400–404

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Carr MH (2006) The surface of Mars. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK

    Google Scholar 

  • Carr MH, Head JW (2003) Oceans on Mars: an assessment of the observational evidence and possible fate. Jour Geophy Res 108(E5):5042. https://doi.org/10.1029/2002JE001963

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Castaldo L et al (2017) Global permittivity mapping of the Martian surface from SHARAD. Earth Planet Sci Lett 462:55–65

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Clifford SM, Parker TJ (2001) The evolution of the Martian hydrosphere: implications for the fate of a primordial ocean and the current state of the northern plains. Icarus 154(1):40–79

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Cockell C (2014) The subsurface habitability of terrestrial rocky planets. In: Microbial life of the deep biosphere, Life in extreme environments, vol 1. De Gruyter, Berlin, pp 225–259

    Google Scholar 

  • Costard F et al (2002) Formation of recent Martian debris flows by melting of near-surface ground ice at high obliquity. Science 295(5552):110–113

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Di Achille G, Hynek BM (2010) Ancient ocean on Mars supported by global distribution of deltas and valleys. Nat Geosci 3(7):459–463

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dundas CM et al (2018) Exposed subsurface ice sheets in the Martian mid-latitudes. Science 359(6372):199–201

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Ehlmann BL, Edwards CS (2014) Mineralogy of the Martian surface. Annu Rev Earth Planet Sci Lett 42(1):291–315

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Fassett CI, Head JW (2008) Valley network-fed, open-basin lakes on Mars: distribution and implications for Noachian surface and subsurface hydrology. Icarus 198(1):37–56

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fassett CI et al (2010) Supraglacial and proglacial valleys on Amazonian Mars. Icarus 208(1):86–100

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hassler DM et al (2013) Mars’ surface radiation environment measured with the Mars science laboratory’s curiosity rover. Science 343:1244797

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Head JW et al (1999) Possible ancient oceans on Mars: evidence from Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter data. Science 286(5447):2134–2137

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Head JW et al (2003) Recent ice ages on Mars. Nature 426(6968):797–802

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Head J et al (2005) Tropical to mid-latitude snow and ice accumulation, flow and glaciation on Mars. Nature 434(7031):346–351

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Kite ES et al (2013a) Seasonal melting and the formation of sedimentary rocks on Mars, with predictions for the Gale Crater mound. Icarus 223(1):181–210

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Kite ES et al (2013b) Pacing early Mars river activity: embedded craters in the Aeolis Dorsa region imply river activity spanned≳(1–20) Myr. Icarus 225(1):850–855

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kurokawa H et al (2014) Evolution of water reservoirs on Mars: constraints from hydrogen isotopes in martian meteorites. Earth Planet Sci Lett 394:179–185

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Laskar J, Robutel P (1993) The chaotic obliquity of the planets. Nature 362:608–612

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Malin MC, Edgett KS (2000) Evidence for recent groundwater seepage and surface runoff on Mars. Science 288(5475):2330–2335

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Mouginot J et al (2012) Dielectric map of the Martian northern hemisphere and the nature of plain filling materials. Geophys Res Lett 39(2):L02202

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Parker TJ et al (1993) Coastal geomorphology of the Martian northern plains. J Geophys Res Planet 98(E6):11061–11078

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schon SC et al (2009) Unique chronostratigraphic marker in depositional fan stratigraphy on Mars: evidence for ca. 1.25 Ma gully activity and surficial meltwater origin. Geology 37(3):207–210

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tanaka KL (1997) Sedimentary history and mass flow structures of Chryse and Acidalia Planitiae, Mars. J Geophys Res Planet 102(E2):4131–4149

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Usui T (2017) Martian water stored underground. Nature 552:339–340

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Usui T et al (2015) Meteoritic evidence for a previously unrecognized hydrogen reservoir on Mars. Earth Planet Sci Lett 410:140–151

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Vaucher J et al (2009) The volcanic history of central Elysium Planitia: implications for martian magmatism. Icarus 204(2):418–442

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Wade J et al (2017) The divergent fates of primitive hydrospheric water on Earth and Mars. Nature 552(7685):391

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Weiss DK, Head JW (2017) Evidence for stabilization of the ice-cemented cryosphere in earlier Martian history: implications for the current abundance of groundwater at depth on Mars. Icarus 288:120–147

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Wordsworth RD (2016) The climate of early Mars. Annu Rev Earth Planet Sci Lett 44:381–408

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Solar System Sciences, Institute for Space and Astronautical Science, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, Sagamihara, Kanagawa, Japan

    Tomohiro Usui

Authors
  1. Tomohiro Usui
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Tomohiro Usui .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Applied Life Sciences, Tokyo University of Pharmacy and Life Sciences, Tokyo, Japan

    Akihiko Yamagishi

  2. Graduate School of Science, Tohoku University Geosciences, Miyagi, Japan

    Takeshi Kakegawa

  3. Department of Solar System Sciences, Institute for Space and Astronautical Science, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, Sagamihara, Kanagawa, Japan

    Tomohiro Usui

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2019 Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.

About this chapter

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this chapter

Usui, T. (2019). What Geology and Mineralogy Tell Us About Water on Mars. In: Yamagishi, A., Kakegawa, T., Usui, T. (eds) Astrobiology. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-3639-3_21

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation