Radiolytic H2 production on Noachian Mars: Implications for habitability and atmospheric warming.

Abstract Protected from harmful radiation, subfreezing temperatures, and low pressures, subsurface rock-hosted habitats provide potentially sustainable refugia for microbial ecosystems inside small rocky planets, such as Mars. For many chemolithotrophic communities on Earth, water–rock alteration reactions have been shown to produce the key electron donors and acceptors necessary to sustain microbial life on geologic timescales. Here we quantitatively demonstrate that radiolysis likely generated concentrations of dissolved H 2 capable of sustaining microbial communities in the subsurface of Noachian Mars (3.7–4.1 Gyr ago). When considering an environment with H 2 O groundwater, dissolved H 2 concentrations reach up to ∼55 mM in a cold early Mars climate scenario and ∼35 mM in a warm early Mars climate scenario; whereas when considering an environment with eutectic NaCl brine groundwater, dissolved H 2 concentrations reach up to ∼85 mM in a cold early Mars climate scenario and ∼45 mM in a warm early Mars climate scenario. Specifically within the subsurface habitable zone, dissolved H 2 concentrations range from ∼50–55 mM for a cold climate scenario with H 2 O groundwater. For a warm climate scenario with H 2 O groundwater, dissolved H 2 concentrations within the subsurface habitable zone range from ∼1–30 mM. For a cold climate scenario with eutectic NaCl brine groundwater, dissolved H 2 concentrations within the subsurface habitable zone range from ∼65–85 mM. For a warm climate scenario with eutectic NaCl brine groundwater, dissolved H 2 concentrations within the subsurface habitable zone range from ∼1-40 mM. Radiolysis likely produced [1.3–4.8] × 1010 moles H 2 per year globally during the Noachian depending on the assumed porosity and groundwater composition. Radiolytic H 2 , and CH 4 derived from radiolytic H 2 , can be locked in hybrid clathrate hydrates within the cryosphere and released by large impacts, volcanism, or obliquity variations. This process could warm the Noachian climate to above-freezing temperatures, and we predict that ∼1–8 warming events would be possible during the Noachian and Hesperian solely from radiolytically produced H 2. We demonstrate that the region immediately beneath the cryosphere, termed the subcryospheric highly-fractured zone (SHZ), likely contained dissolved H 2 concentrations and temperatures suitable for life regardless of the background climate scenario, making it the most consistently habitable environment on ancient Mars in terms of reductant availability. Material from this zone can be exposed by faulting and in the ejecta and uplifts of impacts, making the SHZ a crucial astrobiological target for testing the subsurface biosphere hypothesis. Highlights • Radiolysis produced enough H 2 to support subsurface life on Mars during Noachian. • Region immediately beneath cryosphere was longest-lived habitable zone on Mars. • Biosignature-hosting material from habitable zone can be excavated by impacts. • Radiolytic H 2 could contribute to transient warming during Noachian. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]