Ancient Mars Looks Cozy

Silica on Mars Volcano Tells of Wet and Cozy Past
“Light-colored mounds of a mineral deposited on a volcanic cone more than three billion years ago may preserve evidence of one of the most recent habitable microenvironments on Mars. Observations by NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter enabled researchers to identify the mineral as hydrated silica and to see its volcanic context. The mounds’ composition and their location on the flanks of a volcanic cone provide the best evidence yet found on Mars for an intact deposit from a hydrothermal environment — a steam fumarole, or hot spring. Such environments may have provided habitats for some of Earth’s earliest life forms.”