Geologists have established the origin of river valleys on Mars
A new study has shown that massive floods occurred on Mars in ancient times. They forever changed its surface, leaving behind deep chasms, reports Nature .
Geologists at the University of Texas at Austin have found that Mars was covered in crater lakes several billion years ago. Some of them were large enough to accommodate an entire sea.
Sometimes the water became too much, it destroyed the walls of the crater and flooded the surroundings. Satellite images taken by spacecraft orbiting Mars have allowed scientists to examine such destroyed craters and the surrounding landscape.
The authors of the scientific work concluded that the floods were rapid. The water covered large areas in just a few weeks.
The images showed that the footprints left by such floods are much deeper than other details of the Martian landscape. Their average depth is 170.5 meters – twice as much as that of river valleys, which were formed in other ways (77.5 m).
The study found that the flood canyons were so deep that they may have influenced the formation of nearby river valleys. This may be the reason for the unique topography of Mars, which is usually attributed to the climate.
Scientists noted that on Earth, river erosion is a slow and steady process. But on Mars, it happened almost instantly (by geological standards). This is important for understanding other features of the Red Planet.
Earlier it was reported that powerful earthquakes were recorded on Mars. Their magnitude exceeded 4.
