Earthlike Mars? Options

[glennwsmith]

All, I know this isn't the right place for this post, but I've looked around and can't find an appropriate, current UMSF forum (Doug, perhaps you could give me some guidance on establishing such) -- so here goes: I think a [the] new paradigm for Martian geology is rapidly coalescing, namely, that Mars is very much like the Earth in terms of the preponderance of water -- except that it is all frozen, and covered under a thin layer of dust/regolith! See, for example, this article:

http://www.skyandtelescope.com/news/41995902.html

Hence the "seepages" found in crater walls; hence the evidence of catastophic flooding -- the result of volcanism melting huge pockets of ice. And I am going to add my own wrinkle (probably not original): that the differentiation of Mars into a rougher southern hemisphere and smoother northern hemsphere represents something like Earth's Pangea stage, ie, the northern hemisphere is a vast frozen sea covered with a thin layer of ice.

[Marz]

FYI: NOVA's latest Mars show, "Is There Life on Mars", does an excellent job summarizing the latest results & discoveries from MRO, Odyssey, Phoenix, and MER.

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/mars/

It also briefly describes:
-- the giant-impact theory for the northern basin
-- possible climatic history
-- comparison on how Meridiani was very acidic with evaporite deposits, yet the chemistry of where Phoenix sampled was slightly basic (Calcium carbonate!), lightly salty, with perchlorate present (and how perchlorate may improve the chances for microbial life).