Early Mars would have been saturated, with air density 20 times what it is now, claims Georgia Tech Assistant Professor Josef Dufek.
Currently, the Martian atmosphere is less than one per cent the density of Earth's. Liquid water can't last long, if at all, on the surface (though other studies indicate there is much ice, and perhaps liquid water, beneath the surface).
Dufek is analyzing ancient volcanic eruptions and surface observations by the Mars rover Spirit. His new findings are published by the journal Geophysical Research Letters.
"Atmospheric pressure has likely played a role in developing almost all Mars' surface features," Dufek said.
"Its climate, the physical state of water on its surface and the potential for life are all influenced by atmospheric conditions," he was quoted as saying by LiveScience.
Dufek's first research tool was a rock fragment propelled into the Martian atmosphere during a volcanic eruption roughly 3.5 billion years ago. The deposit landed in the volcanic sediment, created a divot (or bomb sag), eventually solidified and remains in the same location today.
Dufek
