Mars carbonate catastrophe

High school (ages 12+)
Space & Astronomy

Name:

Date:

Step 1 · Read the article

Open the article and read it at the level above. Then answer the questions below in your own words.

https://smallwhale.org/articles/mars-carbonate-catastrophe

Write what each word means, using the article.

Do not copy the article. Write two things you learned, the way you would explain them to a friend.

Answers below are taken from the article’s stored facts, so they match what the student read.

1. What is the planet?Mars
2. What is the approximate time of major climate shift?About 4 billion years ago, during the Noachian epoch
3. What evidence shows that Mars once had oceans?Scientists found ancient riverbeds, lakebeds, and minerals that form in water, which all point to Mars having oceans and rivers billions of years ago.
4. Why did Mars lose most of its water so quickly?When the planet's carbon dioxide turned into solid rocks, the greenhouse effect weakened, the surface cooled, and the water froze or evaporated into space.

Carbonate Catastrophe: A hypothesis suggesting Mars lost its atmosphere and water by atmospheric CO2 converting into solid carbonate rocks.
Magnetosphere: The region surrounding a planet dominated by its magnetic field, shielding it from charged particles.
Solar Wind: A continuous stream of energetic charged particles emanating from the Sun.
Greenhouse Gas: A gas in the atmosphere that absorbs and emits radiant energy, causing warming (e.g., CO2).