New fossil fuel evidence shows Earth-like seasons may have existed on Mars, indicating towards anticipated emergence of life on the red planet.
Researchers have discovered that Mars may have once had wet and dry seasons, similar to Earth. The study has indicated towards the significant possibility of life on the red planet.
Mars had a cyclical climate more than three billion years ago.
Scientists believe wet and dry seasons would have provided ideal conditions for the formation of complex ancient organic compounds that would have served as precursors to life.
The researchers informed that these findings also open up new areas of insight into the natural processes which may give rise to life on Mars.
Unlike Earth, Mars has huge areas of well-preserved terrain with abundant fossil rivers and lakes dating back billions of years, said researchers.
On the other hand, Earth has tectonic plates, which are large slabs of rock dividing the planet’s crust and moving constantly to reshape its landscape.
Evidence suggests that Mars has once had liquid water, despite of the red planet being cold and inhospitable currently.
The presence of water is a crucial aspect of thick and flourishing life.
Over billions of years, the planet lost much of its atmosphere, transforming its climate from one that might have supported life into the dry and frozen environment of today.
The researchers found the salt deposits to have hexagonal patterns, which they said was the “first fossil evidence of a sustained, cyclical, regular Martian climate with dry and wet seasons”.
This kind of environment is ideal for the formation of complex compounds such as RNA, a nucleic acid present in all living cells.
The researchers wrote: “Our findings point to a sustained, cyclic, possibly seasonal, climate on early Mars”, which may have been “favorable to prebiotic evolution”.
