What Happened To The Water On Mars
More than a billion years ago the surface of mars was covered in liquid water.
What happened to the water on mars. A fraction of this water is retained on modern mars as both ice and locked into the structure of abundant water rich materials including clay minerals phyllosilicates and sulfates. Four billion years ago mars was covered in water. Now scientists at oxford propose a new theory. Whatever mars atmosphere and temperature was as this happened the loss of available water in and of itself would have made the planet uninhabitable explains lead author prof.
It had a much thicker atmosphere that kept the planet warm enough for rivers to flow and for liquid water to stand. Ancient mars was likely warm and wet much like earth. What happened to all the water. It s locked up in the rocks.
But this was not always the case. It is widely accepted that mars had abundant water very early in its history but all large areas of liquid water have since disappeared. Right now all of the planet s water is locked in polar ice caps sulfate salt deposits found near the upper murray.