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.

[climber]

"Water" on Mars guys! Ice visible at mid latitudes from HiRise: http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewpr.html?pid=29232
BTW, Astro, where is the new emoticon you shown us recently?

[serpens]

"Water" on Mars guys! Ice visible at mid latitudes from HiRise.....

The identification of ice in a new crater is a good find. But I feel that Shane Byrne is a bit quick off the mark to claim cause and effect and state that "This ice is a relic of a more humid climate from perhaps just several thousand years ago."

Ice underlying the regolith within centimeters of the surface as a recent deposit - perhaps. A relic of an older warmer wetter past - perhaps. Or the residue from ice meteorites that left icy residue that gradually sublimated. The latter would seem more in keeping with the observation that the ice was a thin layer overlying darker material.