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Mars

The flow and ebb of water

Nature volume 438, pages 1087–1088 (2005)Cite this article

Information is pouring in about Mars. These are thrilling times for those who are proposing — and challenging — ideas about the chemical evolution of the planet and its potential for having harboured life.

Was Mars ever wet and warm for long enough to have been a crucible for life? Taking the existence of liquid water as a necessity for life, argument about that question has lately become increasingly intense and fast-moving. The newest proposals appear in two papers in this issue1,2, in which volcanic activity and meteorite impact are respectively put forward to explain martian chemistry previously invoked as evidence for the action of water.

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Figure 1: Opportunity's site of operation.
Figure 2: Sulphate, sulphate everywhere.

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  1. the Southwest Research Institute, 1050 Walnut Street, Suite 400, Boulder, 80302, Colorado, USA

    Mark A. Bullock

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  1. Mark A. Bullock
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Bullock, M. The flow and ebb of water. Nature 438, 1087–1088 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1038/4381087a

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