Friday, March 01, 2019
Can you say AQUIFER?
A new study of Mars, linked by RT, finds that Mars had AQUIFERS and probably still has AQUIFERS.
The RT link misses the point by quoting the geological jargon about "groundwater systems" and "groundwater upwelling", thus hiding the real news in the study.
The article itself does use the word AQUIFER, but the jargon dominates.
Aquifers here on earth are rich in bacteria, which help to purify the water. The bacteria form solid long-lasting biofilms on gravel.
Would that also be true on Mars? Maybe in the past but not now. Bacteria in aquifers feed on nutrients washed down through the soil via rain, and Mars definitely doesn't have rain now.
BUT: Earth has some self-sufficient closed ecosystems in deep rock with no percolation, where the same lines of bacteria have apparently lived for millions of years. Similar closed systems could still be alive on Mars.
¶ 1:07 AM 
Would that also be true on Mars? Maybe in the past but not now. Bacteria in aquifers feed on nutrients washed down through the soil via rain, and Mars definitely doesn't have rain now.
BUT: Earth has some self-sufficient closed ecosystems in deep rock with no percolation, where the same lines of bacteria have apparently lived for millions of years. Similar closed systems could still be alive on Mars.
¶ 1:07 AM
