A New Angle on Martian Methane

dusty writes "A recent hypothesis paper entititled 'Martian CH4: Sources, Flux, and Detection' delves into the production of methane on Mars. This hypothesis compares Mars with South Africa, and draws the conclusion that the radiolysis of martian ice and water while reacting with carbon dioxide can produce enough methane to account for recently observed concentrations. Methane is important because it is hard to explain. It has a short half-life and must be replenished frequently. As recently as 2005 the public line from NASA/JPL was that the methane could be produced by volcanism. Mars' dormant Olympus Mons is the largest volcano in the solar system but auspiciously quiet. A recent study from NOAA throws into question the whole idea stating, 'If Mauna Loa is a valid terrestrial analog, our findings suggest that volcanic activity is not a significant source of methane to the Martian atmosphere.'"

Comments

Re:This is interesting...

[Eunuchswear]

Ok,

1. just turning C02 + H2O + energy -> CH4 + ...
   would be seriously dumb as CH4 is a much more potent greenhouse gas than C02, and stockpiling it would harder than just stockpiling the CO2 in the first place.
   
2. and turning C02 + H20 + energy -> CH4 then burning the CH4 to get C02 + energy is just a nice way of wasting energy.
   
3. You're not talking about a power source, just an expensive and dangerous power transmission medium.
   
4. And finaly, what on earth do you mean by fragile biological processes? Artificial processes are way more fragile than biological ones.
   

Re:No life?

[Rei]

No, it's not likely. Everything that we've come to learn about Martian regolith is that it's highly oxidative -- peroxides, superoxides, etc. Then factor in the problems we've known for a long time -- radiation, temperatures, lack of liquids, etc.

If there's any life there, it must be extremely different from life on Earth to be able to withstand the oxidative environment. On Earth, Martian regolith would be a disinfectant.

Besides, volcanism and this new theory aren't the only viable ones for methane production. Serpentization of olivine will do the trick as well. That is to say, if anywhere on the planet there is subsurface water saturated with CO2 in ever-common olivine-rich rock, it will produce methane.

Re:No life?

[SirBruce]

Ahhh, the old "highly oxidative" argument.

In truth, there has never been a test on a Martian lander designed to either confirm or identify the nature of this hypothetical strong oxidant. While there are theories that suggest that UV light should create such oxidants, the presence of a higly oxidant Martian surface has never been confirmed by experiment. Rather, it has been invoked as an EXPLANATION why certain other results, such a the Viking LRE, must be faulty.

To date, no subsequent Mars probe has produced data that points to a strong global surface oxidation beyond the usual culprits of H20 and CO2 (which account for the rust).

Bruce