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Ancient Ocean that covered 1/3 of Mars with Water, A new study conducted by University of Colorado at Boulder scientists.
Guest_Bobby_*
post Jun 15 2010, 12:33 AM
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I found this article about Mars being covered with Water and found it interesting.
June 13, 2010

Here is the article:
http://www.colorado.edu/news/r/f9b2e812247...b0735f7098.html
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Vultur
post Oct 21 2010, 02:21 PM
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If Mars ever had an Earth-density atmosphere, though, it would have had far more CO2 and thus a stronger greenhouse effect. Earth's atmosphere is unstable, maintained that way by life. Before plants, Earth had much more CO2 and less O2.
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Den
post Oct 23 2010, 07:29 PM
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QUOTE (Vultur @ Oct 21 2010, 02:21 PM) *
If Mars ever had an Earth-density atmosphere, though, it would have had far more CO2 and thus a stronger greenhouse effect. Earth's atmosphere is unstable, maintained that way by life. Before plants, Earth had much more CO2 and less O2.


I believe the gist of AndyG's post is that even thick CO2 atmosphere doesn't raise temperature enough to make liquid ocean possible.
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ngunn
post Oct 23 2010, 09:29 PM
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QUOTE (Den @ Oct 23 2010, 08:29 PM) *
even thick CO2 atmosphere doesn't raise temperature enough to make liquid ocean possible.


The pressure required to maintain the liquid state doesn't have to depend on a thick atmosphere; it can come from the weight of 'sea ice'. Most of the water oceans in the solar system have such caps, but I think any ancient martian ocean would have had a much thinner cap than that of Europa or the other galileans, more like 'snowball Earth'.
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Den
post Oct 25 2010, 01:36 PM
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QUOTE (ngunn @ Oct 23 2010, 09:29 PM) *
The pressure required to maintain the liquid state doesn't have to depend on a thick atmosphere; it can come from the weight of 'sea ice'. Most of the water oceans in the solar system have such caps, but I think any ancient martian ocean would have had a much thinner cap than that of Europa or the other galileans, more like 'snowball Earth'.


Sea ice would be unstable in current Mars conditions - it would sublimate.

With thicker atmosphere in the past, it looks plausible. So my mental picture needs to be corrected: ancient Mars ocean, where it was liquid, was covered by permanent thick ice cover (many meters). Over the eons, atmosphere was lost, water was partly sublimating and escaping to space and to colder, higher latitudes, and partly "escaping" to permafrost and deep underground aquifers. Surface of ex-frozen-ocean was gradually covered by dust.

Bear in mind that this description of "cold Mars" is too simplistic. In 3 billion years, a lot of interesting events happened. Largish impacts. Changing tilt of the rotational axis. And first of all, volcanic eruptions and lava floods are prime candidates to make a lot of water liquid, at least for some geologically short time, but enough to cause catastrophic floods, carve river valleys, etc...
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Posts in this topic
- Bobby   Ancient Ocean that covered 1/3 of Mars with Water   Jun 15 2010, 12:33 AM
- - Paolo   It will be interesting to see how they solve the m...   Jun 15 2010, 04:24 AM
- - ngunn   The ocean froze and we see the stuff deposited on ...   Jun 15 2010, 08:59 AM
|- - serpens   That explains very well why the underlying strata ...   Jun 15 2010, 09:20 AM
|- - tharrison   QUOTE (ngunn @ Jun 15 2010, 12:59 AM) The...   Jul 2 2010, 06:32 PM
- - Bill Harris   There are many processes and environments involved...   Jun 15 2010, 12:41 PM
- - schaffman   There are likely at least two different "ocea...   Jun 16 2010, 11:59 AM
|- - tim53   QUOTE (schaffman @ Jun 16 2010, 03:59 AM)...   Jul 29 2010, 04:54 PM
- - schaffman   Thanks for clarifying, Tim. I was thinking oceans ...   Aug 1 2010, 10:31 AM
- - Den   Indeed, we have two near certainties which contrad...   Oct 19 2010, 10:04 PM
|- - schaffman   QUOTE (Den @ Oct 19 2010, 05:04 PM) One c...   Oct 21 2010, 11:57 AM
- - ngunn   The view from my armchair is that I like your scen...   Oct 19 2010, 10:45 PM
- - brellis   POST DELETED - SEE FORUM GUIDELINES 1.3 - ADMIN   Oct 20 2010, 01:14 AM
- - AndyG   Den, I've got two armchairs. From one, giv...   Oct 20 2010, 11:34 AM
- - serpens   Actually are there not 3 variables (armchairs) to ...   Oct 21 2010, 02:52 AM
- - AndyG   Not happy not knowing with which of the chairs to ...   Oct 21 2010, 12:11 PM
- - Vultur   If Mars ever had an Earth-density atmosphere, thou...   Oct 21 2010, 02:21 PM
|- - Den   QUOTE (Vultur @ Oct 21 2010, 02:21 PM) If...   Oct 23 2010, 07:29 PM
|- - ngunn   QUOTE (Den @ Oct 23 2010, 08:29 PM) even ...   Oct 23 2010, 09:29 PM
|- - Den   QUOTE (ngunn @ Oct 23 2010, 09:29 PM) The...   Oct 25 2010, 01:36 PM
- - Fran Ontanaya   Are you taking into account the salinity of the se...   Oct 25 2010, 02:04 PM
|- - Den   QUOTE (Fran Ontanaya @ Oct 25 2010, 02:04...   Oct 25 2010, 02:36 PM
- - Fran Ontanaya   The hypersaline lakes in the McMurdo Dry valleys r...   Oct 26 2010, 11:47 AM
|- - Den   QUOTE (Fran Ontanaya @ Oct 26 2010, 12:47...   Oct 26 2010, 06:30 PM
- - schaffman   Which raises an interesting question. Could ice-co...   Oct 27 2010, 02:58 AM
|- - Fran Ontanaya   http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/express/mission/s...e_mar...   Oct 27 2010, 03:22 PM
|- - tharrison   QUOTE (schaffman @ Oct 26 2010, 06:58 PM)...   Oct 27 2010, 05:43 PM
|- - schaffman   QUOTE (tharrison @ Oct 27 2010, 12:43 PM)...   Oct 28 2010, 03:42 PM
- - serpens   The evidence for a substantial ocean keeps on tric...   Jul 28 2013, 04:15 AM
- - RichforMars   And at this particular time in Martian history, ho...   Aug 20 2013, 01:35 PM
|- - centsworth_II   QUOTE (RichforMars @ Aug 20 2013, 09:35 A...   Aug 20 2013, 05:53 PM
- - ElkGroveDan   QUOTE (RichforMars @ Aug 20 2013, 06:35 A...   Aug 20 2013, 04:33 PM
- - nprev   There's some evidence (D/H ratio, I think) tha...   Aug 20 2013, 09:00 PM
- - serpens   The evidence is fragmentary yes, but compelling fo...   Aug 21 2013, 11:02 PM
|- - Chmee   Strange to think that at one point Venus, Earth, a...   Aug 22 2013, 05:18 PM
- - elakdawalla   Regarding Venus, it's better to assume that we...   Aug 22 2013, 05:52 PM
- - serpens   Well Curiosity seems to have confirmed that there ...   Dec 10 2013, 10:21 PM


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