Earthlike Mars? |
Earthlike Mars? |
Apr 1 2009, 02:28 AM
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#1
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Member Group: Members Posts: 233 Joined: 21-April 05 Member No.: 328 |
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. |
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Sep 25 2009, 12:53 AM
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#2
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Member Group: Members Posts: 258 Joined: 22-December 06 Member No.: 1503 |
hhmmm! So water ice and sublimation is a much more significant process on Mars than previously thought...not a big surprise to me personally. The big surprise is the Moon. But if comets brought water to Earth, then it makes sense that they would bring it to the Moon too.
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Sep 25 2009, 01:49 AM
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#3
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Senior Member Group: Members Posts: 1018 Joined: 29-November 05 From: Seattle, WA, USA Member No.: 590 |
But if comets brought water to Earth, then it makes sense that they would bring it to the Moon too. It wouldn't have stayed on the moon very long, though, if it came from comets. Current thinking seems to be that the lunar water is produced by the solar wind. I'd doubt if very much (if any) Martian water arrived that way. --Greg |
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