{"id":150193,"date":"2025-09-17T10:52:08","date_gmt":"2025-09-17T10:52:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/150193\/"},"modified":"2025-09-17T10:52:08","modified_gmt":"2025-09-17T10:52:08","slug":"volcanic-sulfur-on-mars-could-have-been-helpful-for-life","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/150193\/","title":{"rendered":"Volcanic sulfur on Mars could have been helpful for life"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"VolcanicView larger<\/a>. | NASA\u2019s Curiosity<\/a> rover found these pure sulfur crystals on May 30, 2024, after it drove over and broke open a rock. Now, a new study from researchers at the University of Texas at Austin shows that reduced forms of volcanic sulfur on Mars could have kept the atmosphere warm enough for liquid water and possibly life. Image via NASA<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Was Mars ever warm enough to support life? Scientists still don\u2019t know exactly what the climate was like on Mars billions of years ago. But there are clues.
\nReduced forms of sulfur from active volcanoes could have kept the planet warm by creating a greenhouse effect. The findings are based on new atmospheric simulations and studies of Martian meteorites.
\nThese other forms of sulfur would have dominated the greenhouse process, rather than sulfur dioxide or carbon dioxide alone, as previously hypothesized.<\/p>\n

Volcanic sulfur on Mars<\/p>\n

Was Mars ever warm enough to support life? We know there was once abundant water on the surface. But scientists still don\u2019t know exactly what the climate was like billions of years ago. Researchers at the University of Texas at Austin said<\/a> on September 11, 2025, that volcanic activity likely helped keep the atmosphere warm enough for life to exist. They said sulfur gases released from volcanoes could have created the greenhouse effect needed to make the planet hospitable for life. The researchers ran over 40 computer simulations to study the possible atmosphere of early Mars.<\/p>\n

Unlike previous models that suggested primarily sulfur dioxide or carbon dioxide, the new study shows that other reduced forms of sulfur might have been the dominant gases involved instead. Reduced sulfur refers to sulfur atoms in a negative oxidation state, forming compounds like hydrogen sulfide<\/a> (H2S) and thiols<\/a> (mercaptans).<\/p>\n

The researchers published<\/a> their peer-reviewed<\/a> findings in Science Advances on September 3, 2025.<\/p>\n

Volcanic emissions of reactive sulfur gases on early Mars may have contributed to a greenhouse effect, potentially creating conditions favorable for liquid water and microbial life. doi.org\/g93fsc<\/p>\n

\u2014 Science X \/ Phys.org (@sciencex.bsky.social)<\/a> 2025-09-11T15:19:15-04:00<\/a><\/p>\n

Simulating Mars\u2019 early atmosphere<\/p>\n

To try to determine how Mars\u2019 early atmosphere could have been warm enough for life, the researchers ran over 40 computer simulations. The simulations used various temperatures and concentrations of gases and chemistry based on data from Martian meteorites. By doing so, the researchers could estimate how much carbon, nitrogen and sulfide gases were present billions of years ago.<\/p>\n

Previously, scientists had considered sulfur dioxide or carbon dioxide to be the most likely gas to help create a greenhouse effect. The new results, however, suggested something a bit different: reduced and highly reactive forms of sulfur. This could include sodium sulfide (H2S), disulfur (S2) or sulfur hexafluoride (SF6). Sulfur hexafluoride, in particular, is an extremely potent greenhouse gas.<\/p>\n

As lead author Lucia Bellino<\/a> at the University of Texas at Austin explained<\/a>, this could have resulted in a climate able to maintain liquid water and even support some forms of life:<\/p>\n

The presence of reduced sulfur may have induced a hazy environment which led to the formation of greenhouse gases, such as SF6 [sulfur hexafluoride], that trap heat and liquid water. The degassed sulfur species and redox conditions are also found in hydrothermal systems on Earth that sustain diverse microbial life.<\/p>\n

\"Huge,View larger<\/a>. | Perspective view from Mars Express<\/a> of Olympus Mons<\/a> on Mars, the largest volcano in the solar system. This and many other ancient volcanoes could have helped maintain a habitable<\/a> environment on Mars billions of years ago. Image via ESA\/ DLR\/ FU Berlin\/ J. Cowart<\/a> (CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO<\/a>).
\nSulfur kept changing forms<\/p>\n

In addition, the study revealed that the sulfur might not have stayed the same. Instead, it kept changing forms. The meteorites contain reduced sulfur. But most of the sulfur that has been seen directly on the Martian surface is chemically bonded to oxygen. The difference suggests that this kind of sulfur cycling was common on early Mars. Bellino said<\/a>:<\/p>\n

This indicates that sulfur cycling \u2013 the transition of sulfur to different forms \u2013 may have been a dominant process occurring on early Mars.<\/p>\n

\"SmilingLucia Bellino<\/a> at the University of Texas at Austin is the lead author of the new study about sulfur on Mars and how it might have provided habitable conditions. Image via Lucia Bellino<\/a>.
\nCuriosity rover finds pure sulfur crystals<\/p>\n

There\u2019s another interesting twist to sulfur on Mars, too. In 2024, NASA\u2019s Curiosity<\/a> rover drove over a small rock, crushing it in the process. And the broken pieces revealed something unexpected. The rock was filled with crystals of elemental sulfur<\/a>. Unlike other sulfur seen previously on the surface, this was pure sulfur, not bound to oxygen in sulfate. Co-author Chenguang Sun<\/a> at the University of Texas at Austin said<\/a>:<\/p>\n

We were very excited to see the news from NASA and a large outcrop of elemental sulfur. One of the key takeaways from our research is that as S2 [disulfur] was emitted, it would precipitate as elemental sulfur. When we started working on this project, there were no such known observations.<\/p>\n

Next, the team plans to use the same simulations to study the possible sources of water on early Mars, including volcanoes. In addition, they will investigate whether microbes could have used reduced sulfur as a food source.<\/p>\n

Bottom line: Did early Mars support life? A new study shows how volcanic sulfur on Mars could have kept the planet warm and wet enough to be habitable billions of years ago.<\/p>\n

Source: Volcanic emission of reduced sulfur species shaped the climate of early Mars<\/a><\/p>\n

Via The University of Texas at Austin<\/a><\/p>\n

Read more: NASA announces Mars rock as a potential biosignature<\/a><\/p>\n

Read more: Mars\u2019 interior might contain remnants of baby planets<\/a><\/p>\n

Paul Scott Anderson
\n View Articles<\/a><\/p>\n

About the Author:<\/p>\n

Paul Scott Anderson has had a passion for space exploration that began when he was a child when he watched Carl Sagan\u2019s Cosmos. He studied English, writing, art and computer\/publication design in high school and college. He later started his blog The Meridiani Journal in 2005, which was later renamed Planetaria. He also later started the blog Fermi Paradoxica, about the search for life elsewhere in the universe.
\n
\nWhile interested in all aspects of space exploration, his primary passion is planetary science and SETI. In 2011, he started writing about space on a freelance basis with Universe Today. He has also written for SpaceFlight Insider and AmericaSpace and has also been published in The Mars Quarterly. He also did some supplementary writing for the iOS app Exoplanet.
\n
\nHe has been writing for EarthSky since 2018, and also assists with proofing and social media.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"View larger. | NASA\u2019s Curiosity rover found these pure sulfur crystals on May 30, 2024, after it drove…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":150194,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[49,48,79674,66,306,79673,72253],"class_list":{"0":"post-150193","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-science","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-habitability","11":"tag-science","12":"tag-space","13":"tag-volcanic-sulfur-on-mars","14":"tag-volcanoes"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/150193","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=150193"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/150193\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/150194"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=150193"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=150193"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=150193"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}