Recently with the discovery of flowing water on Mars, research has shown that it would only be possible for a solution to exist on Mars due to the lower evaporation and freezing point compared to pure water. Various salts such as chlorides, sulfates, and percolate had been found on the surface on Mars. RSL (recurring slope lineae) which are seasonal flows on the warmer parts of Mars have been hypothesized that they were created from flowing water. Due to the location and properties of Mars, it has been researched that the temperature exceeds that of 250 kelvins. The composition of the RSLs can be detected via an orbital spectrometer that can detect the absorption bands.
Pure water and hydrated salts absorption band tends to be ~1.4μm, ~1.9μm, ~3.0μm.
Just hydrated salts tend to be between 1.7~2.4μm
What has been found is that the gathered data shows that the in the Paliker crater, the absorption bands were near 1.48μm, 1.91μm, 2.15μm and 3.0μm. This data shows that while pure water could be present, it also shows that hydrated salts could also be present within the same location. A spectrum of Mar's soil, Mg-perchlrate and Mg-chlorate closely resembles that of the RSL taken from the Paliker. This more or less confirms that there are some forms of salts located in the water that created the RSLs on Mars.
Source : http://meetingorganizer.copernicus.org/EPSC2015/EPSC2015-838-1.pdf
4 points. Great explanation.
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