On Mars, clues about origin of life on Earth found

New Delhi : In a recent discovery, the scientists have found evidences on the planet Mars that are likely to reveal clues about origin of life on our planet Earth.

The scientists have found a huge ancient sea-floor hydrothermal deposits in a basin on southern Mars by NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO).

"Even if we never find evidence that there has been life on Mars, this site can tell us about the type of environment where life may have begun on Earth," said Paul Niles of NASA's Johnson Space Center in the US.

"Volcanic activity combined with standing water provided conditions that were likely similar to conditions that existed on Earth at about the same time - when early life was evolving here," said Niles, co-author of the research published in the journal Nature Communications.

Currently, there is no still water or volcanic activity on the planet Mars. Researchers estimate an age of about 3.7 billion years for the martian deposits attributed to seafloor hydrothermal activity. 

Undersea hydrothermal conditions on Earth at about that same time are a strong candidate for where and when life on Earth began, researchers said.