Astronomers found out the most favorable places for life on early Mars

Early Mars was a more volcanically and tectonically active planet than previously thought. Researchers have found 63 new examples of four-billion-year-old volcanoes in a region of the Red Planet whose properties distinguish it from others.

SSPDaily tells about it.

According to scientists, in the past, life could flourish near active volcanoes and in deep lakes on Mars.

Scientists have found that the landscape of the Martian region of Eridania, located in the southern hemisphere of the planet, was formed in response to changes in the crust of Mars, and not under the influence of forces from above and below it. And this discovery could affect the search for life on the Red Planet.

"The large basins in this region once housed a system of lakes known as Eridania Lake, which was about a mile deep when the lake was at its longest. The long-lived volcanic springs, along with the rich water, could have fed hydrothermal systems that would have favored the development of life. At the very least, these findings open up more places where we can look for evidence of life," Aster Cowart, a planetary geologist at the Institute of Planetary Sciences, said.

Unlike the Earth, there is virtually no volcanic or tectonic activity on modern Mars. In addition, about half of the Red Planet's surface is over 3.5 billion years old. This indicates that the "processing" of the Earth's crust on Mars was not widespread.

On Earth, such "processing" is caused by plate tectonics. When one tectonic plate slips beneath another, the surface material is recycled into the mantle between the Earth's crust and its molten core.