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.
On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.
The print edition can be purchased at Amazon. from any other book seller, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit.
The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.
The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News
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.
On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.
The print edition can be purchased at Amazon. from any other book seller, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.
The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News
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