Earth Sciences 1086F/G Lecture 11: chapter 11

• School: Western University
• Department: Earth Sciences
• Course: Earth Sciences 1086F/G
• Professor: Gerhard Pratt

Document Summary

To investigate whether mars could or has ever held microbial life. To explore the presence of water on mars. Mars only contains small traces of water vapour and oxygen, so it does not provide enough pressure to prevent liquid water from boiling into vapour: how does the atmosphere affect the composition of the soil. Note similarities/differences to the formation (and characteristics) of atmospheres on venus, mercury and earth. Mars does not have a magnetic field, so martial solar wind affects the atmosphere and the surface. 1: know the implications of high versus low escape velocity to the atmospheric composition. Higher escape velocity: harder it is for gas atoms to leak into space. Unlike earth, mars does not have an ozone layer (which is produced by oxygen, mars has barely any oxygen), so uv radiation can break through the atmosphere and break up molecules like water.