EON

Presence Of Clay Type Minerals Indicates Water Existed Before

Washington- There is accumulating information and evidence that shows that in the past there was water on Mars.

Large sections of the Mars Highlands feature clay type minerals that indicate water was once present on the red Mars surface.

The type of clay and minerals and the way that they are featured can only happen in the presence of water, so these types of discoveries tend to indicate the past presence of a significant amount of water on Mars.

The study is being published in Nature science journal, and says that because of the large patches of clay like material that the Red planet once perhaps had rivers and lakes featured on its surface.

The presence of a wet environment is the only way that some of these features can be formed, and many in the scientific community are very excited about these recent discoveries.

The minerals are called phyllosilicates and were first viewed by the Compact Reconnaissance Imaging equipment that are was aboard the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter.

The information is exciting because there are dozens of sites that have these features on them and future missions to Mars can be targeted to these sites, to try and discover if there is still any trace of water on Mars.