The history of Martian volatiles

Abstract

The behavior of water and other volatiles on Mars is key to understanding the evolution of the climate. The early climate played a fundamental role in producing the observed surface morphology and possibly in enabling the existence of an early biosphere. Geochemical and isotopic data can be used to infer the history of volatiles. On the basis of the isotopic data from the atmosphere and from components of the surface (as measured in meteorites that come from Mars), there appear to be at least two reservoirs of volatiles, one that has undergone exchange with the atmosphere and has been isotopically fractionated, and a second that is unfractionated and may represent juvenile gases. The fractionation of the atmospheric component has occurred primarily through the escape of gas to space. In addition, the atmospheric gases have mixed substantially with crustal reservoirs of volatiles. Such exchange may have occurred in aqueous or hydrothermal environments. The history of escape to space, as driven by the properties of the Sun through time, is consistent with the surface geomorphology. Together, they suggest an early environment that was substantially different from the present one and the evolution through time to a colder, dryer climate.