| Title: |
Crustal Hydration Primed Early Mars with Warm and Habitable Conditions |
| Authors: |
Adams, Danica; Scheucher, Markus; HU, RENYU; Thomas, Trent; Scheller, Eva; Lillis, Rob; Smith, Kayla; Wordsworth, Robin; Ehlmann, Bethany; Rauer, Heike; Yung, Yuk |
| Publisher Information: |
Springer Science and Business Media LLC |
| Publication Year: |
2023 |
| Description: |
Geological evidence suggests that ancient Mars held substantial volumes of surface liquid water [1–2] , lost over time due to crustal hydration [17] and atmospheric escape [7] . Resolving the Mars Faint Young Sun Paradox, or explaining how the atmosphere was kept warmer early on despite a less luminous sun, has remained a challenge. Reduced greenhouse gases like H 2 in a CO 2 atmosphere are known to induce warming through collision induced absorption [13–14] , but H 2 is short-lived and no long-lasting source at early Mars has been identified yet. Here we show that crustal hydration would have supplied significant H 2 fluxes, which, built up in the atmosphere over 10 5 -10 7 years, could have facilitated a warm, wet climate through collision-induced absorption with CO 2 and N 2 . This would only occur during a few major events lasting ~ million years, while shorter events could not have warmed the climate. Our results are the first to explain how long-lasting warm climates could have persisted at early Mars. As CO 2 was lost and the atmosphere cooled, it transitioned to a CO-dominated state in the Hesperian era, leading to a colder, drier climate. We anticipate that sharp climate and redox state changes may have been triggered by geological or obliquity changes. |
| Document Type: |
other/unknown material |
| Language: |
unknown |
| DOI: |
10.21203/rs.3.rs-3497495/v1 |
| Availability: |
https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-3497495/v1; https://www.researchsquare.com/article/rs-3497495/v1; https://www.researchsquare.com/article/rs-3497495/v1.html |
| Rights: |
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ |
| Accession Number: |
edsbas.5044B4EB |
| Database: |
BASE |