Thinking Like a Wildcatter: Prospecting for Methane in Arabia Terra, Mars

Methane has been detected in the martian atmosphere at a concentration of approximately 10 ppb. The lifetime of such methane against decomposition by solar radiation is approximately 300 years, strongly suggesting that methane is currently being released to the atmosphere. By analogy to Earth, possible methane sources on Mars include active volcanism, hot springs, frozen methane clathrates, thermally-matured sedimentary organic matter, and extant microbial metabolism. The discovery of any one of these sources would revolutionize our understanding of Mars.