Rain in Atacama Desert After 500 Years

Atacama Desert in Chile is an arid region for last 150 million years. The soils in the Atacama Desert are highly saline. The climate studies indicate that the desert receive rain for once in every century. But, the desert received no rain for the last 500 years until 2015. There were two rain events in 2015 and one in 2017. The rain in Atacama Desert sounds like a happy news for us. However, it was bad news for the bacteria that were lived in the extremely dry condition of the Atacama Desert. Scientists found that from 75% to 87% of bacterial species were extinct after the rain events. They have suggested that bacteria were died because of sudden osmotic shock. 

(Atacama Desert, Chile. Photo Courtesy: MonicaVolpin from Pixabay)

The bacteria in the Atacama Desert are adapted to live in conditions like extreme dryness, high salt content and high UV radiation. Previously, 16 such bacterial species were recorded in that region. The rare rain events created small lagoons in the desert. The scientists collected samples from three lagoons and examined for the bacteria. They used RNA sequencing, microscopy and bacterial culture techniques to identify the bacteria. They found only 4 out 16 species from the samples. The results indicate that the 12 bacterial species were not survived the sudden increase in the liquid amount in the desert. 

(Atacama Desert. Photo Courtesy: PaisJoana from Pixabay)

The scientists compare the rain in Atacama Desert to the similar events happened in the Mars. Both the Atacama Desert and the Mars have hyper-arid condition. So, by studying the Atacama Desert, we can understand and predict about the environmental conditions in the Mars. The scientists suggest that disastrous floods might have wiped out life forms in the Mars as like the rain in Atacama Desert killed several bacterial species. 

NASA and SpaceX are planned to send humans to the Mars in few years. When we go there, we can collect more samples and study about the floods in the Mars. We can also study whether the Mars had living beings in the past.