Earthquakes are usually terrifying natural disasters that endanger thousands of lives — but on Mars, they could help give life to alien species.

A new study published in the journal Astrobiology finds that earthquakes produce rocks that are subsequently richer in trapped hydrogen. The results, taken a step further and applied to extraterrestrial worlds, suggest “marsquakes” could also encourage the type of hydrogen-rich geology necessary to support life.

You’re probably familiar with the idea of carbon as the building block for organic life. But in order for carbon to become anything more special than just carbon, it needs to bond with other elements, including hydrogen. We know that rocks formed by quake-induced grinding against other rocks end up supercharged with hydrogen, and that Mars has enough seismic activity to produce them. If there’s enough hydrogen around and conditions are right, Martian life could theoretically evolve.

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