Skip to Content

University of Colorado Boulder
Search

Search

Other ways to search:

  • Events Calendar
  • Campus Map

Main menu

  • Home
  • About
  • Academics
  • Admissions
  • Research
  • Visit

Secondary Menu

  • Students
  • Faculty
  • Staff
  • Families
  • Alumni

Search

Other ways to search:

  • Events Calendar
  • Campus Map

Mobile menu

  • Home
  • About
  • Academics
  • Admissions
  • Research
  • Visit
  • Students
  • Faculty
  • Staff
  • Families
  • Alumni

Breadcrumb

Home Research Research Report Research and Creative Work 2015-16 Last Lake on Mars

Last Lake on Mars

MarsA newly discovered 18-square-mile salt flat (roughly the size of Boulder) likely represents the evaporated remains of one of the last potentially habitable surface lakes to exist on the Red Planet. The lake’s estimated age—no older than 3.6 billion years old—dates it to a time period after which scientists believe Mars could no longer sustain large amounts of surface water. “We can be pretty certain this is one of the last instances of a sizeable lake on Mars,” said Brian Hynek, an associate professor at the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics (LASP). Hynek and his colleagues estimate the lake's salinity to have been about 2.8 parts per thousand (ppt), far less salty than the 35 ppt of the Earth’s oceans and, therefore, possibly once hospitable to microbial life.

Principal Investigators

Brian Hynek, Mikki Osterloo, Kathryn Kierein-Young

Funding

National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Mars Data Analysis Program

Collaboration/Support

Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics (LASP); Geological Sciences; Astrobiology

Salty lake bed

  • Lake Michigan: 0.6 PPT

  • Martian Lake: ~2.8 PPT

  • Pacific Ocean: 35 PPT

  • Great Salt Lake: 270 PPT

  • Dead Sea: 342 PPT

Categories:
  • Research Report
Tags:
  • 2015-16
  • Aerospace

Related Story

Solar wind

Solar Wind

For a team of CU Boulder students and scientists studying climate change on Mars, the answer is “blowin’ in the wind.”

Read more about Solar Wind >>

Apply for Admission

Visit Campus

Support CU Boulder

Get Help

  • Safety & Health Services
  • COVID-19 Information
  • Campus Communications
  • Emergency Alert System
  • New Student & Family Programs

Getting Around

  • Campus Map
  • Campus Events
  • Parking & Transportation
  • Visit Information

Information for

  • Faculty & Staff
  • Families
  • Journalists

Initiatives

  • Business & Industry Collaborations
  • Diversity & Community Engagement
  • Free Speech
  • Innovation & Entrepreneurship
  • International Students
  • Public & Outreach Programs
  • Sustainability

Be Boulder.

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
  • LinkedIn
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest

University of Colorado Boulder

© Regents of the University of Colorado
Contact Us • Privacy • Legal & Trademarks 
Accessibility • Student Consumer Information • Land Acknowledgement • Policies • CU Boulder Jobs

Download the Clery Act Annual Security & Fire safety report, or request a paper copy from the CU Boulder Police Department.  

Return to the top of the page