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Scientists have found signs that water may once have gurgled up through the Martian soil in hydrothermal vents similar to those in Yellowstone National Park.

The site of these proposed vents could possibly contain preserved traces of ancient Martian life, scientists say. That assumes, of course, that life might once have existed on Mars. No firm evidence for that idea has ever been found, however.

The vents evidence comes from NASA’s Mars Exploration Rover Spirit. The robotic explorer found deposits of pure silica, a form of the element silicon that occurs when hot water reacts with rocks (quartz is a pure silica), in Mars’ Gusev Crater in 2007. The discovery was announced briefly at the time, but scientists have now had time to fully analyze the deposits. The results are detailed in the May 23 issue of the journal Science.

Full story at:

http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/080522-mars-silica.html