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A steamy proposal for Martian clays

Martian clays present a conundrum: the models proposed to explain their formation require conditions that are not predicted by computational climate simulations. Experiments now suggest an alternative scenario.
  1. Laura Schaefer

    1. Laura Schaefer is in the School of Earth and Space Exploration, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona 85287, USA.

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Clay minerals are found in abundance across the surface of Mars, and many models have been suggested to explain their formation1. These models often invoke the presence of substantial surface water and a warm climate during Mars’s first 500 million to 700 million years. However, computational climate models for early Mars struggle to reproduce such conditions2. On page 88, Cannon et al.3 present a possible solution to this problem: a model for clay formation during the end stages of Mars’s formation that does not require prolonged warm and wet conditions.

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Nature 552, 37-38 (2017)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-017-07661-3

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