Expansionary Institute

Michael Zey
futurist3000@aol.com

Geologist: Mars’ Water Deposits Might Make Colonizing Planet Easier

Fossils of Ancient Life Forms May be Buried on Mars
July 23, 2001 07:00 CDT

The Mars Global Surveyor probe has found new evidence
that is sparking speculation that the first human
explorers could discover fossils of ancient life forms.
The probe indicates that water was shaping Mars much
more recently than scientists previously thought. The
watery environment had big implications for the
existence of past or present life on Mars, according to
a leading US expert.

Professor Victor Baker said that the first human
explorers on Mars might even discover fossils of ancient
life forms. Baker, the head of the Department of
Hydrology and Water Resources at the University of
Arizona in Tucson said: "If it's true, it would have
major implications for sending people to Mars, because
it may mean that water is more available than otherwise
thought.

"Early Mars provided an arguably better habitat for the
inception and incubation of early life than did early
Earth," said Professor Baker.

Scientists once believed that no water had flowed on the
surface of Mars for around four billion years. But the
evidence from the Global Surveyor indicates that
considerable amounts of water shaped Martian land
features within the past 10 million years. Scientists
believe that internal heat periodically triggers
short-term warmer and wetter conditions on Mars.

Conditions like these are conducive to life, Professor
Baker told the journal Nature.

New Global Surveyor images showed signs of "megafloods"
that may have triggered climate changes, extensive
terrain that closely mimics permafrost areas on Earth,
lake beds, and gullies that have drained water and
debris on the Martian surface within the past several
million years.

The most important evidence was the proof of very recent
glaciers - crevasse-like fractures, moraines drained by
converging tributaries, and aprons of deposited debris.
The presence of glaciers means Mars was once much warmer
and that there was a lot more water on the Martian
surface, said Professor Baker.

Source: AnaNova News



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Surveyor Photo Shows Evidence of Water on Mars' Surface