2 billion-year-old water in South Africa may hold answers to Mars mysteries:
Supported by funding from NASA and the National Science Foundation, the researchers collected samples in 2018 and 2019 by descending into a gold and uranium mine operated by Harmony Gold. The water lies in rock fractures accessed through boreholes, allowing the researchers to release some of the pressurized water and filter out material for analysis.
This scanning electron microscope image provided by Tullis Onstott of Princeton Institute for the Science and Technology of Materials shows material taken from an ancient water deposit. Researchers believe the peanut-shaped object in the middle may be a cell dividing. But even without DNA, the researchers can still get clues about whether life might be able to survive there. Water in the pockets is about seven times saltier than seawater and reaches temperatures of up to 129 degrees Fahrenheit, right at the edge of what life is thought to tolerate. But Nisson and her colleagues have found an abundance of small organic acids that could supply the carbon required to build and maintain cellular structures.
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2 billion-year-old water in South Africa may hold answers to Mars mysteriesNisson presented preliminary findings from the ongoing research project this week at a meeting of the American Geophysical Union in San Francisco. Supported by funding from NASA and the National Science Foundation, the researchers collected samples in 2018 and 2019 by descending into a gold and uranium
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