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Three "Martian" Ages of Mars |
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It may sound like something “Cling-ons” would say during a “Star Trek” movie but the three different stages to describe Mars' lifespan are anything but “Cling-on”.
Europe's Mars Express probe has been working towards finding something that would indicate that there was water on Mars. They came up with 3 different stages that this planet went through that might help bring some insight.
First is Phyllocian which is a clay rich with minerals that would need lots of alkaline liquid water to form. But this was only around for a short time.
Second is the Theiikian stage. Huge amounts of sulfur dioxide eruptions occurred all over the planet mixing with the water and leaving sulfur deposits.
Thirdly is the Siderikan stage which is what we currently see today. Mars became cold and eruptions stopped and water disappeared.
On further exploration the NASA team plans on focusing on clay rich areas. “We will look for samples that are rich in hydrated clays because we think that they are the most favorable to host, at a microscopic level, potential bio-relics." said Jean-Pierre Bibring of the Institut d'Astrophysique Spatiale in France.
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