Tracing the Origin of Methane and Water on Mars: Active Regions and their Seasonal Variability

Details Tracing the Origin of Methane and Water on Mars: Active Regions and their Seasonal Variability Tracing the Origin of Methane and Water on Mars: Active Regions and their Seasonal Variability

Sep 2009

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2009dps....41.4401v&link_type=abstract

American Astronomical Society, DPS meeting #41, #44.01

Mathematics

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We have detected methane on Mars [1,2], and measured it simultaneously with water using powerful ground-based telescopes. Its presence in such a strongly oxidized atmosphere (CO2, 95.3%) requires recent release; the ultimate origin of this methane is uncertain, but it could either be abiotic or biotic.
In this paper, we present the spatial distributions of methane and water-vapor on Mars extracted from our complete spectral database now spanning seven years, and we compare these with other geological parameters. Both gases are depleted at vernal equinox but are enhanced in warm seasons (spring/summer), though often with dissimilar spatial distributions. In Northern Summer we observe a polar outburst of water but no methane, while in Southern Spring we observe release of abundant methane but little water. Regions of methane release appear mainly over ancient terrain (Noachian/Hesperian, older than 3 billion years) known to have a rich hydration history.
There is ample evidence that ancient Mars was wet and likely hosted habitable conditions. Moreover, the presence of extensive volcanism probably gave rise to widespread hydrothermal activity and the formation of rich aqueous subsurface reservoirs. Methane produced by geological processes (e.g., serpentinization) or by living organisms at that time could have been incorporated into hydrates. If such processes remain active on Mars below the permafrost, the byproduct gases (i.e. CH4 and H2S) may be trapped as hydrates at the base of the cryosphere.
[1] Mumma et al. (2009) Science, 323, 1041. [2] Villanueva et al. (2009), submitted. This work was funded by NASA grants 08-PAST08-0034 (Planetary Astronomy) and 08-PATM080-0031 (Planetary Atmospheres) and grants from the NSF RUI Program (AST-0505765 and AST-0805540). We acknowledge the NASA-IRTF and Keck-2 telescopes for observing time.

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