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Martian water stored underground

Why did Mars lose so much of its surface water, whereas Earth retained its? Models of the evolution of minerals on the two planets suggest one explanation: the Martian water was drawn into the planetary interior.
  1. Tomohiro Usui

    1. Tomohiro Usui is at the Earth-Life Science Institute, Tokyo Institute of Technology, Tokyo 152-8551, Japan.

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Observations of Mars and its geology suggest that the red planet once had an Earth-like hydrological cycle that included large lakes or oceans. In contrast to this ancient wet environment, the surface of Mars today is cold and dry. The transition to this present state is closely linked to the fate of the planet’s surface water, which is poorly understood. A substantial amount of surface water escaped to space from the atmosphere, in part because of Mars’ relatively low gravity1. However, atmospheric-escape models account for only some of ancient Mars’ surface water. On page 391, Wade et al.2 propose that much of the surface water was sequestered underground.

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Nature 552, 339-340 (2017)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-017-08670-y

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