Global Journal of Science Frontier Research, A: Physics and Space Science, Volume 23 Issue 5

This persistent greenhouse, it will be shown, requires a highly oxygenated atmosphere to achieve geochemical stability, which only biology can supply. Thus, Mars past cannot be understood without massive biology being present. Sadly, the fragility of life, seen in evidence of mass extinctions on Earth, explains also the present environment of Mars, where only a residual biosphere appears to be present. To solve this problem of Mars past requires a broad New Mars Synthesis, Brandenburg, (2015),drawing on a vast trove of data from Mars, the Moon, and even the Earth. This data ranges from meteorites collected in Antarctica, and sediments found in the bottom of the Grand Canyon on Earth, to Moon rocks collected by astronauts, and finally to a vast array of data collected by robotic probes from Mars orbit, meteorites from Mars collected in Antarctica, and lander/rovers on its surface. Once again, the key to understanding Mars past environment appears to be abundant life. But first we must understand our models of Mars Geochronology and their problems. In particular, we want to know the answer to the question: what was the length of the Mars “Liquid Water Epoch” in geologic time? Figure 1: MaadimVallis (L) on old terrain draining into Gusev Crater. Hradd Vallis on young terrain, draining into the Paleo-Ocean bed. Both channels are approximately 800km long II. T he M ars A ge P aradox and I ts R esolution the inner edge of the asteroid belt, the source of most meteoritic impacts on Earth. That Mars cratering rate should be much higher than Earth’s, appears obvious, and is consistent with the much larger amount of MM (Mars Meteorite) materials being recovered on Earth, versus those originating from the Moon. Despite this, application of LCG (Lunar Cratering-Geochronology) models to Mars persists, leading to the seeming paradox of the average age of MMs being much less than the estimated average surface age of Mars, as given by LCG models Brandenburg (1994), Treiman A. (1995) and Nyquist et al.(1998). © 2023 Global Journals 1 Year 2023 32 Global Journal of Science Frontier Research Volume XXIII Issue ersion I VV ( A ) The New Mars Synthesis: Circumstantial Evidence of a Past Persistent Gaia on the Red Planet Cratering densities are used on both the Moon and Mars as an indicator of the age of a surface, and the water channels on those surfaces, since its last resurfacing event, such as lava flow or water erosion. More craters correlate with greater surface age, being the straightforward interpretation, calibrated for Lunar surfaces, by Apollo rock samples and imagery. With this large body of Lunar data, it made sense to apply the Apollo derived models to Mars. However, Mars defines