A strangely shaped depression on Mars could be a new place to look for signs of life on the Red Planet, according to a University of Texas at Austin-led study. The depression was probably formed by a volcano beneath a glacier and could have been a warm, chemical-rich environment well suited for microbial life.
The findings were published this month in Icarus, the International Journal of Solar System Studies.
"We were drawn to this site because it looked like it could host some of the key ingredients for habitability -- water, heat and nutrients," said lead author Joseph Levy, a research associate at the University of Texas Institute for Geophysics, a research unit of the Jackson School of Geosciences.
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