Earthlike Mars? |
Earthlike Mars? |
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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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Member ![]() ![]() ![]() Group: Members Posts: 401 Joined: 5-January 07 From: Manchester England Member No.: 1563 ![]() |
QUOTE (dburt) ....very ephemeral snowmelt in low elevations containing dark (easily heated) basaltic rocks or dust I'd suggest that buried ice exposed by small impacts (as seen in this LPSC paper) at low elevations might be a better source of ephemeral liquid water, as it's an idea I've taken a shine to. -------------------- |
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