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Planetary science

Water cycling on Mars

Nature volume 446, pages 150–151 (2007)Cite this article

The Meridiani Planum region on Mars is rich in minerals derived from evaporation, but lacks a topography consistent with standing water. Do the deposits stem from upwelling groundwater early in the planet's history?

A succession of sophisticated spacecraft missions has led to spectacular advances in the understanding of Mars' global hydrology over the past few decades. One of many examples is the discovery of abundant hydrated sulphate salt minerals. These minerals are found at many locations on the planet — most notably at Meridiani Planum, the landing site of NASA's robotic Mars rover Opportunity — and prove that water must once have been abundant on the surface of Mars. On page 163 of this issue, Andrews-Hanna et al.1 use a numerical model to simulate the evolving global flow of subsurface groundwater early in Mars' geological history. They place their simulation in the context of the formation of the enormous volcanic uplift feature known as Tharsis.

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Figure 1: A well run dry?

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Victor R. Baker is in the Department of Planetary Sciences and the Department of Hydrology and Water Resources, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona 85721, USA. baker@hwr.arizona.edu,

    Victor R. Baker

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Baker, V. Water cycling on Mars. Nature 446, 150–151 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1038/446150b

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