Another model proposed for explaining flowing liquid water in the distant Martian past
Click for full resolution graphic.
A new model has now been proposed for explaining how liquid water could have once flowed on Mars and created the many channels and river-like features geologists see today.
This new theory posits that the carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, once thicker, fell as snow to bury water ice on the surface near the poles, where that ice then melted from pressure and heat from below to flow underground and then out into lower latitudes.
The paper, led by Planetary Science Institute Research Scientist Peter Buhler, describes how 3.6 billion years ago, carbon dioxide froze out of Mars’ atmosphere and deposited on top of a water ice sheet at the poles, insulating heat emanating from Mars’ interior and increasing the pressure on the ice. This caused roughly half of Mars’ total water inventory to melt and flow across its surface without the need for climatic warming.
The graphic to the right is figure 1 from Buhler’s paper. It shows this process in the south pole, flowing north through Argyre Basin and along various now meandering channels to eventually flow out into the northern lowland plains. In every case Buhler’s model posits the water flowed in “ice-covered rivers” or “ice-covered lakes”, the ice protecting the water so that it could flow as a liquid.
This model confirms once again my impression that the Mars planetary community is increasingly considering glaciers and ice as a major past factor in shaping the planet we see today. This model suggests liquid water under ice, but it still remains possible that ice alone could have done the job.
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Click for full resolution graphic.
A new model has now been proposed for explaining how liquid water could have once flowed on Mars and created the many channels and river-like features geologists see today.
This new theory posits that the carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, once thicker, fell as snow to bury water ice on the surface near the poles, where that ice then melted from pressure and heat from below to flow underground and then out into lower latitudes.
The paper, led by Planetary Science Institute Research Scientist Peter Buhler, describes how 3.6 billion years ago, carbon dioxide froze out of Mars’ atmosphere and deposited on top of a water ice sheet at the poles, insulating heat emanating from Mars’ interior and increasing the pressure on the ice. This caused roughly half of Mars’ total water inventory to melt and flow across its surface without the need for climatic warming.
The graphic to the right is figure 1 from Buhler’s paper. It shows this process in the south pole, flowing north through Argyre Basin and along various now meandering channels to eventually flow out into the northern lowland plains. In every case Buhler’s model posits the water flowed in “ice-covered rivers” or “ice-covered lakes”, the ice protecting the water so that it could flow as a liquid.
This model confirms once again my impression that the Mars planetary community is increasingly considering glaciers and ice as a major past factor in shaping the planet we see today. This model suggests liquid water under ice, but it still remains possible that ice alone could have done the job.
The support of my readers through the years has given me the freedom and ability to analyze objectively the ongoing renaissance in space, as well as the cultural changes -- for good or ill -- that are happening across America. Four years ago, just before the 2020 election I wrote that Joe Biden's mental health was suspect. Only in this year has the propaganda mainstream media decided to recognize that basic fact.
Fourteen years ago I wrote that SLS and Orion were a bad ideas, a waste of money, would be years behind schedule, and better replaced by commercial private enterprise. Even today NASA and Congress refuse to recognize this reality.
In 2020 when the world panicked over COVID I wrote that the panic was unnecessary, that the virus was apparently simply a variation of the flu, that masks were not simply pointless but if worn incorrectly were a health threat, that the lockdowns were a disaster and did nothing to stop the spread of COVID. Only in the past year have some of our so-called experts in the health field have begun to recognize these facts.
Your help allows me to do this kind of intelligent analysis. I take no advertising or sponsors, so my reporting isn't influenced by donations by established space or drug companies. Instead, I rely entirely on donations and subscriptions from my readers, which gives me the freedom to write what I think, unencumbered by outside influences.
Please consider supporting my work here at Behind the Black.
You can support me either by giving a one-time contribution or a regular subscription. There are five ways of doing so:
1. Zelle: This is the only internet method that charges no fees. All you have to do is use the Zelle link at your internet bank and give my name and email address (zimmerman at nasw dot org). What you donate is what I get.
2. Patreon: Go to my website there and pick one of five monthly subscription amounts, or by making a one-time donation.
3. A Paypal Donation:
5. Donate by check, payable to Robert Zimmerman and mailed to
Behind The Black
c/o Robert Zimmerman
P.O.Box 1262
Cortaro, AZ 85652
You can also support me by buying one of my books, as noted in the boxes interspersed throughout the webpage or shown in the menu above. And if you buy the books through the ebookit links, I get a larger cut and I get it sooner.
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