Mars

Ammonia Or Methanol Would Enable Subsurface Liquid Water In The Martian South Pole

By Keith Cowing

Status Report

astro-ph.EP

January 19, 2024

Filed under Mars, south pole

Ammonia Or Methanol Would Enable Subsurface Liquid Water In The Martian South Pole — Location of the putative liquid water. topographic maps of the area considered in the current study. (https://astrogeology.usgs.gov/search/map/Mars/GlobalSurveyor/MOLA/Mars_MGS_MO LA_ClrShade_merge_global_463m). from latitude 75° S to the South Pole, with a topography shaded relief superimposed for context. B, Zoom on the region under study, presented in a Lambert conic conformal projection with a central meridian location of the proposed melting of ice at the base of the SPLD, centred at 193° E and 81° S. Figure 1. Location of the putative liquid water. Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter (MOLA) topographic maps of the area considered in the current study. (https://astrogeology.usgs.gov/search/map/Mars/GlobalSurveyor/MOLA/Mars_MGS_MO LA_ClrShade_merge_global_463m). A, Polar stereographic projection of the topography from latitude 75° S to the South Pole, with a topography shaded relief superimposed for , Zoom on the region under study, presented in a Lambert conic conformal projection with a central meridian of 193° E longitude. The white star indicates the location of the proposed melting of ice at the base of the SPLD, centred at 193° E and 81° S. — astro-ph.EP

The notion of liquid water beneath the ice layer at the south polar layered deposits of Mars is an interesting possibility given the implications for astrobiology, and possible human habitation.

A body of liquid water located at a depth of 1.5 km has been inferred from radar data in the South Polar Cap. However, the high temperatures that would facilitate the existence of liquid water or brine at that depth are not consistent with estimations of heat flow that are based on the lithosphere’s flexure. Attempts to reconcile both issues have been inconclusive or otherwise unsuccessful.

Here, we analyse the possible role of subsurface ammonia and methanol in maintaining water in a liquid state at subsurface temperatures that are compatible with the lithosphere strength. Our results indicate that the presence of these compounds at the base of the south polar layered deposits can reconcile the existence of liquid water with previous estimations of surface heat flow.

Isabel Egea-González, Christopher P. McKay, John E. Hallsworth, Alberto Jiménez-Díaz, Javier Ruiz

Subjects: Earth and Planetary Astrophysics (astro-ph.EP)
Cite as: arXiv:2401.09873 [astro-ph.EP] (or arXiv:2401.09873v1 [astro-ph.EP] for this version)
Submission history
From: Isabel Egea
[v1] Thu, 18 Jan 2024 10:38:36 UTC (847 KB)
https://arxiv.org/abs/2401.09873
astrobiology

Keith Cowing

Explorers Club Fellow, ex-NASA Space Station Payload manager/space biologist, Away Teams, Journalist, Lapsed climber, Synaesthete, Na’Vi-Jedi-Freman-Buddhist-mix, ASL, Devon Island and Everest Base Camp veteran, (he/him) 🖖🏻

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