Lithium generated by cosmic rays: an estimator of the time that Mars had a thicker atmosphere and liquid water

TL;DR

This paper proposes that lithium produced by cosmic ray interactions in CO2-rich atmospheres can serve as an indicator of the duration Mars had a thick atmosphere capable of supporting liquid water.

Contribution

It introduces a method to estimate Mars's past atmospheric thickness and water presence by calculating lithium production from cosmic rays.

Findings

Lithium production increases significantly at atmospheric pressures above 2 bars.

Estimated lithium amounts suggest Mars may have had a dense atmosphere for a substantial period.

Lithium production correlates with the duration of thick atmospheric conditions on Mars.

Abstract

Lithium is overabundant in cosmic rays because protons impact on carbon and oxygen nuclei and fission them. Among the products of this fission is lithium. Given this preference for carbon and oxygen atoms, in this work I propose that in an atmosphere of almost pure CO2, such as Mars and Venus atmospheres, lithium nuclei are produced by interaction with cosmic rays. I calculated the production rate of lithium and came to the conclusion that, for pressures of two bars or greater, are produced between 21 and 81 lithium nuclei for each primary cosmic rays proton. For lower pressures, the production is less and almost nil with the current pressure of Mars or Earth (pressure of CO2). Assuming a rate of cosmic ray arrival at Mars equal to that of Earth, and a pressure greater than two bars throughout the history of Mars, the amount of lithium that would occur would be between 162 and 642 million metric tons (in the Earth lithium estimated reserves are 30 million metric tons). These values are an upper limit; the actual amount of lithium on Mars will depend on the time in which the planet had a dense atmosphere (> 2 bars). That is, the amount of lithium produced by cosmic rays, serves to estimate the time that Mars had a thick atmosphere and therefore the capacity for have liquid water on surface.