Where in the World is Mars' Water? (axios.com)

An anonymous reader shares an Axios report: In the beginning, Mars was a water world. But at some point in Mars' distant past, much of that water disappeared, leaving behind polar ice caps and a complex geology. Figuring out just where it went has been a major priority for scientists -- life as we know it can't exist without water, and any future settlers would need a steady supply. A new study, published Wednesday in Nature, suggests that much of what remains might in inaccessible. Some went into space, but even more of it may have sunk into the ground like a sponge, only to become bound up in minerals deep within the planet. "Mars, by virtue of its chemistry, was doomed from the start," study author Jon Wade, of Oxford University, tells Axios.

Comments

Re:Anti-Mars propaganda

[jfdavis668]

That 3% fresh water is constantly cycled back to and from the ocean. If you only had the fresh water amount from Earth, and let it loose into the Mars environment, it would quickly disappear into the rocks. No plants would be able to grow, so no terraforming. Fresh water exists on Earth because the oceans exist.

Re:Geology?

[morethanapapercert]

Technically, no, the proper term for the study of Mars planetary formation, mineral chemistry etc is areology. However, according to wikipedia, geology in the broader sense is still used for the study of solid planets in general. Using the more general term avoids having to coin a new neologism every time a particular planetary body becomes a significant field of study.

Plus, geology is a much wider used and understood term. If I say I am working in the field of geology specializing in the mineral chemistry of Mercury, your average layman will understand me, but the term Hermeology might cause confusion.

Planetary Geology [Re:Geology?]

[Geoffrey.landis]

Do planetologists use the term "geology" when they're talking about another planet?

Technically, no, the proper term for the study of Mars planetary formation, mineral chemistry etc is areology.

It etymologically ought to be areology, but it turns out that having a different word for the geology of each planet was too cumbersome, so they are all lumped together as "Planetary geology."

  https://scienceandtechnology.jpl.nasa.gov/research/research-topics-list/planetary-sciences/planetary-geology-and-geophysics

  http://planetary-science.org/planetary-science-3/planetary-geology/

and geologists routinely use the term "Martian geology" and "geology of Mars"

  https://mars.nasa.gov/programmissions/science/goal3/

  http://planetary-science.org/mars-research/surface-geology-of-mars/

  https://www.exploratorium.edu/video/martian-geology-101

  https://www.geol.umd.edu/~jmerck/geol212/lectures/01.html