- From the first few days of the latest Mars missions,
it was quite obvious to me that Mars had large amounts of water, at one
time, on the surface. (I have studied mineralogy and geology for ten years
as a hobby interest and collector.)
-
- Now, what is the origin of the high concentrations of
salts being found in the soils on the surface of Mars ?
-
- Maybe the same as the origin of salts on the earth :
-
- Salts on earth are the result of weathering and erosion
of rocks. The salts are found at low elevations, but the minerals they
came from were components of weathered rocks at higher elevations- only
rainfall, or very heavy dew, resulting in surface flows of water, could
transport the salts from the locations of the rocks to the depressions
or sea basins. So, we have already established that rainy weather was one
ingredient that was present on Mars, as on earth.
-
- But, what was it that actually did the weathering of
the rocks in the first place ? By what mechanisms do chemical elements
in hard rocks come to be brought into water solution ? Well, one way is
physical assault on the rock by freeze- thaw action, another is chemical
attack by contact with water of excessive acidity or alkalinity, another
is solar radiation such as intense UV, etc., all serving to break down
the rock mineral composition.
-
- But there is another even more powerful weathering agent.
-
- It is living things such as lichen, mosses, fungi, algae,
bacteria and other plant life forms!
-
- Physical contact between the rocks and these organisms
with their active biochemistry is the single biggest cause of rock weathering
on earth.
-
- So, we all ought to be asking NASA and JPL a really big
question :
-
- What force weathered such a vast amount of rock material,
over long spans of time, washed by a rainy climate, converting hard rocks
into water soluble salts that comprise a huge percentage of Mars soils
?
-
- The salts found on Mars are essentially very similar
to those found in places like the Dead Sea and the Great Salt Lake and
other salt basin environs on earth.
-
- So, I have been asking myself this question for over
two months now, and am convinced the salts have probably come from the
action of living things growing on and in the rock minerals of Mars.
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