Washington: The mineral-rich structure on Mars that might be the evidence of niche environment on the planet’s subsurface that could support life has been discovered.
The new ovoid structure discovered in the Nakhla Martian meteorite was made of nanocrystalline iron-rich clay, which contains a variety of minerals, and showed evidence of undergoing a past shock event from impact, with resulting melting of the permafrost and mixing of surface and subsurface fluids.
In the article, ‘A Conspicuous Clay Ovoid in Nakhla: Evidence for Subsurface Hydro-thermal Alteration on Mars with Implications for Astrobiology,’ Elias Chatzitheodoridis, National Technical University of Athens, Greece, and Sarah Haigh and Ian Lyon, the University of Manchester, UK, described the use of tools including electron microscopy, x-ray, and spectroscopy to analyse the ovoid structure.
Sherry L Cady, PhD, said this study illustrated the importance of correlating different types of data sets when attempting to discern whether something in rock was a bio-signature indicative of life.
Although the authors couldn’t prove definitively that the object of focus was evidence of life, but the research strategy revealed a significant amount of information about the potential for life to inhabit the subsurface of Mars.