Subsurface of Mars harbors oceans of water: study

A vast reservoir of water may be hiding beneath the surface of Mars, within the crevices of igneous rocks, enough to form a global ocean, a new study has revealed.

Scientists have based these findings on seismic data gathered by NASA's InSight lander which helped decode the interior of Mars with a seismometer from 2018 to 2022.

The water is believed to be located 7.2 to 12.4 miles (11.5 to 20 km) below the Red Planet's dusty surface, according to the research published on Monday in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

What have scientists found?

The water would have most likely trickled from the surface billions of years ago when Mars had rivers, lakes and possibly oceans, said the lead scientist, Vashan Wright of the University of California San Diego's Scripps Institution of Oceanography.

"At these depths, the crust is warm enough for water to exist as a liquid. At more shallow depths, the water would be frozen as ice," Wright said.

If the location of InSight at Elysium Planitia near the planet's equator is representative of the rest of the Martian territory, the underground water would be enough to fill a global ocean a mile or so deep, he added.

"On Earth what we know is where it is wet enough and there are enough sources of energy, there is microbial life very deep in Earth's subsurface," Wright said.

"The ingredients for life as we know it exist in the Martian subsurface if these interpretations are correct."

Too deep

Water would be a crucial resource if astronauts are ever to be placed on Earth's planetary neighbor or to establish a long-term settlement.

Mars has water at its polar regions and sub surfaces in the form of ice.

However, the depth of the apparent underground liquid water would make it difficult to be reached.

It would take drills and other equipment to confirm the presence of water and look for any potential signs of microbial life.

"Drilling to these depths is very challenging. Looking for places where geological activity expels this water, possibly the tectonically active Cerberus Fossae (a region in the northern hemisphere of Mars), is an alternative to looking for deep liquids," the study's co-author Michael Manga of the University of California, Berkeley, said.

He stressed that concerns about protecting Mars' environment would have to be addressed.

dvv/jsi (AP, Reuters)