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From: phssra@mathcs.emory.edu (Scott R. Anderson)
Newsgroups: sci.astro,sci.space
Subject: Re: Possible evidence for life on Mars.
Message-ID: <4243@emory.mathcs.emory.edu>
Date: 21 Jul 89 13:33:42 GMT
References: <8907201621.AA00301@decwrl.dec.com> <7037@ceres.physics.uiowa.edu>
Reply-To: phssra@emory.UUCP (Scott Robert Anderson)
Followup-To: sci.astro
Organization: Department of Physics, Emory University, Atlanta
Lines: 32

In article <7037@ceres.physics.uiowa.edu> TJL@ceres.physics.uiowa.edu writes:
>In article <8907201621.AA00301@decwrl.dec.com>, klaes@wrksys.dec.com 
>(CUP/ASG, MLO5-2/G1 6A, 223-3283) writes:
>> 
>>          The possibility that life could have evolved on Mars, and perhaps
>>     exists there now, has been given a boost by the discovery of large
>>     amounts of organic material, the basis of all known life forms, in a
>>     meteorite believed to have come from the red planet. 
>> 
>My question is that all of the pictures from Mars have been of river channels,
>river channels which apparently handled immense quantities of water.  How
>would this environment (i.e. the river) compare with the ocean?  If the water
>was flowing fast enough to carve these channels, would there also be areas
>where the water would be stagnant for a long enough period of time for
>proteins and the like to form?

The origin of these channels is believed to be due to the sudden melting of
large quantities of subterranean ice and/or permafrost, which are then forced
through the surface to produce a gigantic flash flood.  However, the air
pressure on Mars is so low that the water will quickly evaporate away, so there
is little chance that these floods could provide "stagnant" pools of water.

Speculation:  subterranean chambers deep enough in the interior of Mars that
liquid water could exist, and be warm and stagnant.  Volcanic activity
occasionally spits out a rock or two which then find their way to Antartica...
millions of years ago, of course.

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  *      **                  Scott Robert Anderson      gatech!emoryu1!phssra
   *   *    *    **          phssra@unix.cc.emory.edu   phssra@emoryu1.bitnet
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