Mid-latitude Glaciers On Mars Discovered, MGS and MO Options

[SigurRosFan]

--- New high-resolution images of mid-latitude Mars are revealing glacier-formed landscapes far from the Martian poles, says a leading Mars researcher. ---

http://www.geosociety.org/news/pr/05-37.htm

http://www.universetoday.com/am/publish/mi...s.html?17102005

[CosmicRocker]

Interesting idea... How much overburden would be required to provide enough pressure to depress the melting point of buried ice and create mud flows? Could you post a link to inverted crater images?

[Guest_Richard Trigaux_*]

Could you post a link to inverted crater images?

This one known as the "Inca city" is really astonishing. My explanation is that this very ancient impact filled with molten lava some faults into a sandy terrain. There are many other such features.

Interesting idea...  How much overburden would be required to provide enough pressure to depress the melting point of buried ice and create mud flows?

1000 bars, or about 10kms deep on Mars, makes water freeze at -10°C, the lowest possible temp for pure liquid water. So this alone cannot explain the massive mud flows observed into many places. To explain this we must invoke geothermal heating, or liquid carbon dioxid, the later can turn to liquid at only 4 bars, some tens of metres deep on Mars. The most common hypothesis is that there are huge layers of sand/dust on Mars, soaked with a mixture of water and carbon dioxid, the whole think frozen and solid like rock. But the undermost parts can turn liquid, from geothermal heating, pressure, or eutectic mixing, resulting into large outbursts of mud or liquids. For instance a volcanic emanation of carbon dioxid could pervade water ice and turn it liquid, much like salt does.