Lakes on Mars

For broader coverage of this topic, see Water on Mars.

View underneath the Phoenix lander, showing patchy exposures of a bright surface that may be ice.

In summer 1965, the first close-up images from Mars showed a cratered desert with no signs of water.[1][2][3] However, over the decades, as more parts of the planet were imaged with better cameras on more sophisticated satellites, Mars showed evidence of past river valleys, lakes and present ice in glaciers and in the ground.[4] It was discovered that the climate of Mars displays huge changes over geologic time because its axis is not stabilized by a large moon, as Earth's is.[5][6][7] Also, some researchers maintain that surface liquid water could have existed for periods of time due to geothermal effects, chemical composition, or asteroid impacts.[8][9][10][11][12][13] This article describes some of the places that could have held large lakes.

  1. ^ "Mariner 4: First Spacecraft to Mars". space.com. 5 December 2012. Retrieved 4 July 2015.
  2. ^ "Blast from the past: Mariner 4's images of Mars | The Planetary Society". planetary.org. Retrieved 4 July 2015.
  3. ^ Snyder, C., V. Moroz. 1992. Spacecraft exploration of Mars. In Kieffer, H., B. Jakosky, C. Snyder, M. Matthews, (eds). 1992. Mars. University of Arizona Press. Tucson.
  4. ^ "What is the evidence for water on Mars?". astronomycafe.net. Retrieved 4 July 2015.
  5. ^ Madeleine, J. et al. 2007. Mars: A proposed climatic scenario for northern mid-latitude glaciation. Lunar Planet. Sci. 38. Abstract 1778.
  6. ^ Madeleine, J. et al. 2009. Amazonian northern mid-latitude glaciation on Mars: A proposed climate scenario. Icarus: 203. 300–405.
  7. ^ Mischna, M.; et al. (2003). "On the orbital forcing of Martian water and CO2 cycles: A general circulation model study with simplified volatile schemes". J. Geophys. Res. 108 (E6): 5062. Bibcode:2003JGRE..108.5062M. doi:10.1029/2003je002051.
  8. ^ Newsom, H. 2010. Heated Lakes on Mars. In Cabrol, N. and E. Grin (eds.). 2010. Lakes on Mars. Elsevier. NY.
  9. ^ Fairén, A. G.; et al. (2009). "Stability against freezing of aqueous solutions on early Mars". Nature. 459 (7245): 401–404. Bibcode:2009Natur.459..401F. doi:10.1038/nature07978. PMID 19458717. S2CID 205216655.
  10. ^ Abramov, O.; Kring, D. (2005). "Impact-induced hydrothermal activity on early Mars". Journal of Geophysical Research. 110 (E12): E12S09. Bibcode:2005JGRE..11012S09A. doi:10.1029/2005je002453. S2CID 20787765.
  11. ^ Newsom, H (1980). "Hydrothermal alteration of impact melt sheets with implications for Mars". Icarus. 44 (1): 207–216. Bibcode:1980Icar...44..207N. doi:10.1016/0019-1035(80)90066-4.
  12. ^ Newsom, H.; et al. (1996). "Impact crater lakes on Mars". J. Geophys. Res. 101 (E6): 14951–9144955. Bibcode:1996JGR...10114951N. doi:10.1029/96je01139.
  13. ^ McKay, C.; Davis, W. (1991). "Duration of liquid water habitats on early Mars". Icarus. 90 (2): 214–221. Bibcode:1991Icar...90..214M. doi:10.1016/0019-1035(91)90102-y. PMID 11538097.