Near-surface liquid water on Mars inferred from seasonal marsquakes
Exploring the presence and behavior of water on Mars is critical for understanding the planet's geological evolution, hydrological processes, and potential habitability, which has been a central objective of past and ongoing Martian exploration missions. Martian geomorphology provides evidence of ancient groundwater activity, but confirmation of present-day liquid water remains limited. Here, we infer near-surface brines confined to meter-scale depths in regions north of about 30 °N in the northern hemisphere, based on the analysis of seasonal variations in marsquake seismicity and thermal modeling. The absence of seasonal marsquakes during colder periods and their abrupt resurgence in warmer seasons can be explained by ice-to-brine phase transitions. Our findings reveal a mechanism whereby seasonal melting of subsurface ice elevates pore pressure and lubricates faults, leading to a reduction in frictional strength, and ultimately inducing marsquakes. This mechanism accounts for the seasonal variation, clustering, high seismic b-values, and shallow focal depths of seasonal marsquakes. Additionally, we estimate that the melting point of briny ice on Mars is below approximately 250 ± 13 K, advancing our understanding of Mars' present-day brine cycle and near-surface hydrological processes.
Authors
- Cong Sun (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4055-4182)
- Chao Qi (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7449-0434)
- Lian Xue (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0009-5763-6193)
- Pan Lu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2193-8415)
- ZhenLiang Tian
- Ling Chen
- Siteng Fan
- Haoran Meng
- Tao Wang
- Xie Hu
- Caoanla Li
- Jing Shi
- Jiaqi Li
Institutions
- University of Science and Technology of China (CN)
- Chinese Academy of Sciences (CN)
- Peking University (CN)
- Southern University of Science and Technology (CN)
- Northwest University (CN)
- China National Space Administration (CN)
- Institute of Geology and Geophysics (CN)
- Center for High Pressure Science and Technology Advanced Research (CN)
- Center for High Pressure Science & Technology Advanced Research (CN)
- University of Chinese Academy of Sciences (CN)
- Nanjing University (CN)
- University of Hong Kong (HK)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Nature Communications
- Published
- 2025-12-26
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-67784-4
- Primary Topic
- Planetary Science and Exploration
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00
Funders
- National Aeronautics and Space Administration
- UK Space Agency
- Branco Weiss Fellowship – Society in Science
- National Natural Science Foundation of China
- Centre National d’Etudes Spatiales
- China Postdoctoral Science Foundation
- Max-Planck-Gesellschaft
- Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique
- Institut de Physique du Globe de Paris
- Science, Technology and Innovation Commission of Shenzhen Municipality
- Southern University of Science and Technology
- Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities