[ad_1]
The Martian landscape is crisscrossed by a complex network of valleys Although most scientists agree that the valleys of Mars were created by water there are billions of dollars. years, it has been difficult to establish the exact source of this water on a probably arid planet. SciTech Daily Some time ago, the two main assumptions were that these geological features were left either by the subsurface ice, which melted under the influence of ice. the volcanic activity of the planet and repeatedly infiltrated under the crust to form rivers or by massive rainfall over a long period in time.
A team of researchers from Switzerland and the United States believe that they have finally solved the mystery and point to heavy rains as the most obvious culprit.
According to their study, published this week in the journal Science Advances the network of valleys that slithered on Mars was not sculpted by re-emerging groundwater, but by large amounts of rainfall that flooded the red planet 3.8 billion years ago.
"Recent research shows that there was a lot more water on Mars says the main author of the study Hansjörg Seybold, physicist at ETH Zurich in Switzerland
Water on Mars … a new study now suggests that the connecting structure of ancient river systems on the red planet has parallels with arid landscape landscapes https://t.co/JXmE8zVddD
– swissinfo .ch (@swissinfo_en) June 29, 2018
These massive showers, which most likely dropped 3.6 to 3.8 billion years ago, fueled explains ETH Zurich In a press release
While these ancient rivers dried up for a long time, Seybold says that most of them "evaporated in space", although some of them did not dry up. between them have evaporated, the "water could still be found in the vicinity of Mars" – the network of valleys persists and can be seen in various places on the surface of Mars.
One such example is Osuga Valles (pictured below) to the south of Eos Chaos – "Chaos" is a NASA term attributed to portions of rugged and broken terrain on Mars, Inquisitr recently reported – which extends over a total length of 164 kilometers (almost 102 miles).
This Mars Valley measures up to 20 kilometers (nearly 12.5 miles) of laces and dips as deep as 900 meters (about 3000 feet), notes the European Space Agency.
ESA / DLR / FU Berlin
/
Wikimedia Commons / cropped and resized
(CC BY 3.0)
To arrive at their conclusions, the scientists studied the statistics of all the mapped valleys of the red planet and examined the angles of these valleys, comparing them to those found on Earth.
Earlier studies on branching angles and learned that river valleys in arid lands – such as those found in Arizona, in an area used by astronauts to train for future Mars missions – generally have lower branching angles. At the same time, valleys in wetter landscapes carved by re-emerging groundwater, such as those seen in Florida, typically branch out at wider angles.
Their study reveals that the Martian valleys are very similar to those excavated in parts of our planet, which means that they could only be created by "a superficial flow of water (rain) On the surface of the red planet – not by groundwater flowing out
https: // t.co/h7rwGhZrXo via @physorg_com [19659004] – Bolot Osorov (@bolot_osorov) 29 June 2018
"We find that the valley networks on Mars generally tend to branch out at narrow angles similar to those found in arid landscapes on Earth. the inference that Mars had an active hydrological cycle and that the Mars Valley networks were formed mainly by the erosion of watercourses, with groundwater infiltration playing a minor role ", wrote the team in the study.
triggered heavy rain on Mars? The most plausible scenario is that the red planet was once covered by a vast ocean that sprawled over the northern third of its surface, says the Swiss University
evaporates, condensed around the high volcanoes of the uplands south of the ocean and leads to heavy rainfall, resulting in rivers that have left traces that can still be observed today. On Mars. "
[ad_2]
Source link
