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Russia - Scientists have simulated the conditions under which Mars lost the oceans

Russia (bbabo.net) - Mars once had oceans and a magnetic field similar to Earth's. The study showed why the magnetic field and the oceans disappeared.

In a study published in Nature Communications, Japanese scientists recreated conditions at the core of Mars billions of years ago and found that the behavior of the molten metal resulted in a temporary magnetic field.

The Earth's magnetic field is driven by the huge convection currents of molten metals in its core. Magnetic fields on other planets are thought to work in the same way. And, although the composition of the core of Mars is not exactly known, meteorites suggest that it contains iron enriched with sulfur and additional light elements like hydrogen.

So, for the experiment, they made a material that contains iron, sulfur and hydrogen. The sample was placed between two diamonds and compressed by heating with an infrared laser - this is how the expected temperature and pressure in the core were modeled. As a result, the material separated into two separate liquids, one of which was rich in sulfur, and the second in hydrogen. Such a discovery, according to scientists, is the key to explaining the birth and death of the magnetic field of Mars.

Liquid iron rich in hydrogen and poor in sulfur, being less dense, rose above the denser liquid iron rich in sulfur and poor in hydrogen, causing convection. These Earth-like flows would create a magnetic field capable of sustaining hydrogen in the atmosphere around Mars, which in turn would allow water to exist for a short time.

After the two Martian fluids completely separated, there were no other streams left to create a magnetic field. Hydrogen from the atmosphere was blasted into space by the solar wind, causing the water vapor to break up and eventually the Martian oceans to evaporate. Which probably happened four billion years ago.

Now scientists are counting on the fact that the seismic study of Mars will confirm that the core really consists of separate layers. And, if so, the method will allow us to find out how the rocky planets formed and what their composition is.

Russia - Scientists have simulated the conditions under which Mars lost the oceans