Geoboffins Spot Hundreds of Ghost Dunes on Mars • The Register



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It may have protected life from harmful radiation for billions of years

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Image credit: NASA / JPL / University of Arizona

Mars was once covered with Hundreds of giant dunes as large as billions of years ago, according to a new study, the United States Capitol

. Two scientists from the University of Washington discovered more than 300 crescent-shaped structures set in the eastern part of Hellas Planitia. (1,678 miles).

They studied satellite images and found pits also known as "ghost dunes". Fluid that leaks or lava has partially submerged the dunes, where they have hardened over time. The winds carried away the exposed tips and emptied them from the inside, leaving empty hoops behind them.

"They all go the same way, what you expect from the dunes because they all migrate and form in the same wind regime. . So the shape and size tell us that these are features that come from an ancient dune system, "said Mackenzie Day, the first author of the article published in the Journal of Geophysical Research Planets.

It is estimated that the average size of 40 meters (130 feet) tall at Noctis Labyrinthus, a region of Mars known for the remains of deep patterns dug in the channels of the larva.In the Hellas Basin, a basin of 39, impact, the dunes were probably larger at about 75 meters.

This is an exciting discovery as it provides more evidence to support the idea that Mars may have harbored life at one time.

"We know that the dunes on Earth can support life, and the dunes on Earth are very similar to the dunes, Mars, a problem that Mars does not have the Earth's surface radiation. Inside a dune, or at the bottom of a dune, and that you are a microbial life, the dune protects you from much of this radiation, "said Day, adding that there is probably nothing alive there, but if there ever was anything on Mars, it's a better place than the average to look at. "®

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