Re: Enough liquid water on Mars to cover the surface to a depth of 1 mile

On 8/13/2024 1:27 PM, RonO wrote:

https://www.cnn.com/2024/08/12/science/mars-crust-water-reservoir-insight/index.html
 If this is true could we colonize Mars?  The article claims that evidence is that deep in the martian crust water saturates cracks and crevices.  A whole lot of water.  Mars lost it's atmosphere, but apparently since there is no plate tectonics on Mars and the entire crust is just shrinking and cracking as it cools, a layer of cracked up crust exists 11 to 20 km below the surface that contains liquid water.
 Since the mantle is still molten wouldn't you expect geothermal geysers to reach the surface as this water came into contact with the hot sections of the crust and mantle as crust continues to shrink and crack up?  Would you need active volcanos on the surface to have geothermal geysers?
 We have found living bacteria that apparently only replicate infrequently in water staturated deep rocks on earth, so would life be expected to have survived if it ever existed on Mars?
 If the water exists we might make it available to colonists by crashing an asteroid or a piece of one of Mars' moons into the surface of the planet.  My guess is that would generate volcanic activity and some of the water would be forced back into the atmosphere or at least to the surface.  The Chicxulub impact was for a 6.6 km diameter asteroid and fractured the Earth's crust down to 20 km.
 Ron Okimoto
 

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2024/08/240812160244.htm
Science Daily has an article on the proposed Mars water, but they claim that it is too deep to tap into.  My suggestion of crashing an asteroid or piece of one of the moons could initiate vulcanic activity and bring the water to the surface.
Ron Okimoto