US, WASHINGTON (ORDO NEWS) — Scientists have studied a meteorite whose age coincides with the age of our planet. The object “told” to experts what Mars was in the distant past. The findings, it is worth noting, are surprising.
On April 24, Nature Communications published a scientific paper revealing the past of the Red Planet. As it turned out, the meteorite contained carbonates, and they are formed only in the presence of liquid. If there was water on Mars millions of years ago, it means that simple life forms could well have appeared there.
Researchers studied a meteorite that flew from Mars four billion years ago (Earth, by comparison, is only half a billion years older). The object is called “Allan Hills 84001”. They managed to find him in the Arctic in 1984.
The meteorite contained minerals called carbonates. These formations are quite easy to find in nature, for example, there are many of them in water bodies. According to experts from the Tokyo Institute of Technology, the find is evidence that there were rivers and lakes on the Red Planet. On April 29, they announced their assumptions on the university website.
As a rule, carbonates settle in groundwater. This gives the right to believe that Mars in the past was humid, had rich flora and fauna. Perhaps the planet was even blue, as Earth is today.
Nitrogen was also found in the meteorite, and this is the main compound that bacteria secrete. This discovery speaks of the organic world. Unfortunately, it is hardly ever possible to find out exactly who lived on Mars. Scientists also say that nitrogen-containing compounds could fly to Mars with cosmic bodies rather than form on it.
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