© NASAEvidence suggests flowing water formed the rivers and gullies on the Mars surface, even though surface temperatures were below freezing. Dissolved minerals in liquid water may be the reason.
NASA scientists modeled freezing conditions on Mars to test whether liquid water could have been present to form the surface features of the Martian landscape.
Researchers report that fluids loaded with dissolved minerals containing elements such as silicon, iron, magnesium, potassium
and aluminum, can remain in a liquid state at temperatures well below freezing. The results of this research appear in the May 21 issue of
Nature magazine entitled "Stability Against Freezing of Aqueous Solutions on Early Mars."
"We found that the salts in water solutions can reduce the melting point of water, which may help explain how liquid water existed in a frozen Martian environment," said Alberto Fairen, a space scientist at NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, Calif. and the lead author of the study.