These Martian Caves Would possibly Level to Life

Conditions on Mars make it fairly inhospitable to life. Temperatures can dip beneath minus 100 levels Fahrenheit, high-energy UV radiation buffets the planet, and “dust devils” can strafe the floor with 99 mile per hour winds. So if creatures of some kind stay on the Red Planet, or have ever lived there, they’d be higher off sheltering in caves.

Now, scientists in China and Italy say they might have found a brand new class of Martian cave fashioned by liquid water dissolving rock. The majority of caves discovered on Mars have been fashioned by volcanic or tectonic processes. But these potential new options, known as karstic caves, have totally different origin tales. And as a result of their formation might have concerned water in its liquid type, they may function targets to search for traces of life.

Karstic caves additionally exist on Earth, the place barely acidic groundwater breaks down soluble rocks corresponding to gypsum or limestone. This forges fractures that may increase till they develop into caves. On Mars, historic water flows might need dissolved sulfate- and carbonate-rich rocks on the planet’s crust to type the newly found caves.

Researchers noticed holes known as skylights which may result in karstic caves on Mars within the planet’s Hebrus Valles area. This space incorporates scars from historic floods—a phenomenon thought to have transpired throughout the Red Planet—corresponding to troughs and channels. NASA spacecraft, together with Mars Global Surveyor and Mars Odyssey, have collected detailed scans and imagery on this intriguing area.

Read More: “The Race to Colonize Mars Perpetuates a Dangerous Religion”

With this info, scientists took a more in-depth have a look at eight pits in Hebrus Valles. They discovered that, in contrast to affect craters, these are deep and principally round depressions. They additionally seen that the rocks surrounding these pits have loads of carbonates and sulfates, minerals which are extremely dissolvable. They revealed their findings just lately in The Astrophysical Journal Letters.

“These skylights represent promising subsurface refugia,” the authors wrote, suggesting that future robotic and human missions visits might encounter hints of previous water exercise and even preserved indicators of life. Plus, an announcement notes, they may give astronauts a spot to relaxation their heads and get out of the tough Martian climate.

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Lead picture: ESA & MPS for OSIRIS Team MPS/UPD/LAM/IAA/RSSD/INTA/UPM/DASP/IDA

• Molly Glick

  Posted on November 13, 2025

  Molly Glick is the publication editor of Nautilus.