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There can be no doubt that both oxygen and the inert gas component of the Martian atmosphere, nitrogen &/or argon would be lost from the Martian atmosphere by diffusion. Nitrogen is retained and conserved by vegetation and oxygen is released by vegetation as a by-product of photosynthesis. The extent to which either of these processes would tend to offset loss by diffusion is hard to estimate.
However, the Martian atmosphere would surely require periodic, if not continuous replenishment. This was recognised by Edgar Rice Burroughs in his Martian stories, "A Princess of Mars", 1917, and many others. There would have to be "atmosphere plants" to maintain a breathable atmosphere. Oxygen would be replenished through the electrolysis of water.
Of course, on Mars, water is not an inexhaustible resource. It, too, would have to be replenished . Mars is close to the Asteroid Belt in which there are numerous bodies of water ice which could be nudged into collision courses with the Martian polar regions.
These bodies would have to be explored and analysed carefully to assure that they do not contain dangerous quantities of cyanogen or ammonia. It is not known whether there is free nitrogen or argon in the Asteroid Belt.
Argon is suitable for an inert component of the Martian atmosphere though it cannot be used by vegetation. Argon is almost surely present on and in the rocky bodies of the Asteroid Belt because it is a decay product of the radioactive isotope of potassium, K-40 .
Indeed, the possibility of using Mars as a base for spacecraft employed in deflecting the orbits of asteroids and comets which endanger life on Earth is a major reason to colonise Mars.
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