There May Be a Lost Ocean of Water Hidden on Mars, According to New Signals

There is increasing evidence that the secret is one of the dusty red levels of Mars that can redefine how you view the red planet. This huge reservoir is made of liquid water surrounded by the Earth's crust. Mars is covered with traces of old water. But the puzzle that happened when the planet was cold and dry has long fascinated scientists.

Our new research can provide answers. Based on seismic data from NASA's Insight mission, we found evidence that seismic waves in layer 5-8 km below the surface are slowing.

Secrets of the Water Lack

Mars was not the barren desert we see today. Billions of years ago, during the Noachian and Hesperian eras (to 3 billion years), the river sparkled with its carved valleys and lakes.

Mars' magnetic field faded, its air was diluted, and most of the surface water disappeared. Some escaped into space, some froze in polar caps, and some caught up in the minerals remain today.

However, evaporation, freezing, and rocks cannot completely condemn the waters that covered Mars in the distant past. The calculations show that "missing" water is sufficient to cover ocean planets at least 700 meters deep, perhaps up to 900 meters.

The hypothesis was that water shortages permeated the crust. During the Noachian era, Mars was badly hit by meteorites that could have formed fractures that led water into the ground. The surface depth keeps water in a liquid state, as opposed to the frozen layer close to the surface.

In a seismic snapshot of Cluste

In 2018, NASA's InSight Lander landed on Mars and heard the interior of the planet with a highly sensitive seismometer. By examining a specific vibration known as "shear waves," an important underground anomaly was found. With layers of 5-8 km, these vibrations move more slowly.

This "slow layer" is likely to be a very porous rock filled with liquid water, like a saturated sponge. It's like groundwater conductors on Earth, where groundwater penetrates rock pores. We calculated that the "groundwater layer" on Mars was able to hold enough water to cover the 520-780m planet in the Antarctic.

This volume is compatible with estimates of Mars' "missing" water (710-920 m) after taking into account the loss of mineral-bound space, water, and modern ice caps.

met stones and Marsquakes

This was a discovery thanks to the two met-stone effects of 2021 (named S1000A and S109 B) and the 2022 Marsquake (known as S1222a). These events sent them through the crust, like stones falling into the pond and watching the waves. The Insight Seismometer recorded these vibrations. High-frequency signals from the event were used. From the event, I turned on a crisp, high-resolution radio station to map hidden layers of the crust.

We calculated the "recipient functions" that are signatures of these waves when jumping sustainably with layers of crust, such as echoes representing caves. These signatures allow you to determine where the rocks will change, and the water-immersed layer reveals a depth of 5-8 km.

Why is it important? On Earth, microbes thrive on rocks filled with deep water. Similar lives, perhaps artefacts of the old Martian ecosystem, could exist in these reservoirs?

There is only one way to find it.

Water also becomes a lifeline for more complex creatures, like future human explorers. Once washed, it can be supplied with drinking water, oxygen, or fuel for the rocket.

is, of course, a disappointing challenge of excavating the depths of a distant planet. However, data collected near the Martian equator also indicates the possibility of other water-rich zones, such as the icy mud interface of Utopia Planitia.

What's next for exploring Mars?

Our seismic data covers only a portion of Mars. New missions with seismometers will require the mapping of potential aquatic layers onto the rest of the planet.

Future rovers or drills can one day enter these spores and analyze the chemistry for traces of life. These water zones also require protection against microorganisms on the ground. This is because microorganisms on Earth can accommodate native Mars biology.

For now, water continues to hear the beat of the Mars earthquake and invites us to continue to decipher Earth's secrets more than we thought.

Hrvoje Tkalčić, Head of Geophysics, Director of Wallamanga Array, Australian National University, Professor of Geophysics, Geophysics, Main Institute of Earth and Planetary Physics, Institute of Geology and Geophysics,