Mars may now be a frozen planet, but it once had to (almost) be another (almost), with flowing water freezing into huge icebergs.
As glaciers and ice sheets on Earth tend to flow and slide, they crawl across the earth and create noticeable geophysical features including linear canyons, crests, and inverted ridges. red planet. From Planetary and Earth Sciences Laboratory University University of Nantes A study in France revealed that glaciers on Mars are moving very slowly, according to the site space.
She said gallover degree: “This glacial movement has produced landscapes in northern Europe and North America, while Mars lacks such extensive glacial erosion even in areas where there are other signs of ice spread.”
Instead, the terrain of Mars resulting from the melting and movement of glaciers is mostly hills and valleys with shallow, undulating channels. Scientists have speculated that Martian glaciers freeze directly to Earth when they form because Mars lacks the most dramatic glacial terrain on Earth.
industry gallover degree His team is modeling identical sheets of ice, subjecting one to the conditions of Earth and the other to the conditions of Mars, to see if they really exist.
Scientists have found that it is Earth’s gravity that causes meltwater to collect under a glacier rather than immediately draining it, and the collected water causes the glacier to move faster, something similar to aquaplaning. occurs when cars end up sliding uncontrollably due to a layer of water. . Between its tires and the road, however, the lower gravity on Mars means that drainage happens faster.
The research team speculated that in order to push glaciers faster, there must be enough pressure to compensate for the weak gravity. Creep deformation is a phenomenon that occurs when the temperature and pressure due to the weight of the overlying heavy ice, known as overpressure, are sufficient. Squeeze the ice until it starts to fall. The creeping deformation in the ground is almost different from the sliding ice that results from the melting of the ice that collects under this ice.
It turns out that glaciers that behave as researchers suggest on Mars also occur on Earth. In the north of the Arctic, there are hardly any cuts and holes in the ground under some glaciers that mark where enough water has melted. Keep the ice moving and reveal new features in its wake.
