Tau.Neutrino said:
Mars may have enough oxygen underneath its surface for life
But does it have enough carbon?
mollwollfumble said:
Tau.Neutrino said:
Mars may have enough oxygen underneath its surface for lifeBut does it have enough carbon?
Restart a volcano
Cymek said:
mollwollfumble said:
Tau.Neutrino said:
Mars may have enough oxygen underneath its surface for lifeBut does it have enough carbon?
Restart a volcano
Hydrothermal. But wikipedia does actually have a good article on this. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carbonates_on_Mars
“Evidence for carbonates on Mars was first discovered in 2008”, previously all spacecraft in orbit and on the ground had found negligible amounts.
“A key deposit in Nili Fossae dominated by a single mineral phase that was spatially associated with olivine outcrops. The dominant mineral appeared to be magnesite”.
“Concentrations less than 5% carbonate”.
“Spirit, identified outcrops rich in magnesium-iron carbonate (16–34 wt%) in the Columbia Hills of Gusev crater, most likely precipitated from carbonate-bearing solutions under hydrothermal conditions.”
There is carbon in the atmospheric carbon dioxide, and heating that above 1000 Kelvin can yield carbon monoxide and oxygen. That’s good. But carbon monoxide won’t normally dissociate into carbon and oxygen below 5000 Kelvin. That’s not so good.
For life you also need plenty of hydrogen.