Could landslides on Mars be caused by underground salt and melting ice?

Changes in the geography of Mars still attract significant scientific and even public attention. The hope for signs of liquid water (and therefore life) is probably one of the main drivers of this interest.

A particularly striking changing feature is the Recursive Slope Lineae (RSL) originally found by the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO).

Now, scientists at the SETI Institute have a modified theory of where these RSLs might grow – a combination of water ice and salt just below the Martian surface.

According to the SETI team, led by lead researcher Janice Bishop, a two-step process is underway to create these RSLs.

First, groundwater ice has to mix with a combination of chlorine salts and sulfates to create a type of sludge that destabilizes the regolith in the area.

Then the dry wind and dust storms of Mars take over, blowing the destabilized material in new patterns across the Martian surface.

Krupac Crater also shows the development of RSL. (NASA / JPL / University of Arizona)

This is not the first time that researchers have suggested that chlorine salts may be involved in the creation of RSL. As with many good sciences, this theory has now been fleshed out further thanks to data collected both in the field and in the laboratory.

Unfortunately, the field experiments could not be conducted on Mars itself (at least not yet).

However, there are several places on our home planet that are considered “analogues of Mars,” including the Dead Sea in Israel, the Salar de Pajonales in the Atacama Desert, and the dry valleys in Antarctica.

The SETI team collected data from some of these locations and noted that surface destabilization had previously been observed when salt interacted with gypsum, a type of sulfate.

For this project, the team collected data in dry valleys, where the geology and ground temperature are remarkably similar to those found on Mars by the Phoenix lander and the MRO.

The fieldwork was then followed by lab work, as the team subjected the analogue regolith from Mars to tests using colored indicators that would show how the regolith simulant would react when subjected to the same type of chemical reactions. that took place in Antarctica.

All these data collected resulted in a geological model involving sulphates, chlorides and water that could explain the appearance of RSLs observed on the surface of Mars.

The model also has implications for the habitability of Mars below the surface and how the presence of this mud could affect any biosphere the Red Planet might have.

Until there are further tests on site, this model will be difficult to prove, but there are plenty of more planned for Mars in the near future.

This article was originally published by Universe Today. Read the original article.