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Published online 22 September 2004 | Nature | doi:10.1038/news040920-7
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A picture of young Mars
Reconstruction of the red planet's past reveals acid rain and briny seas.
What would Mars's oceans have looked like 4 billion years ago? Scientists have worked out the answer, and found a planet with a climate ideally suited to life.
Their model also answers a planetary puzzle: if Mars was once a warm, wet 'greenhouse' planet rich in carbon dioxide, why does its surface contain so few carbonate minerals?
Scientists believe that the martian atmosphere must once have been thick with carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas that would have kept the young planet warm enough for liquid water to carve its mark so clearly on the landscape.
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