Could Mars landslides be caused by underground salt and melting ice?

Changes in Mars” geography Always attract great scientific and even general Attention. Hoping for signs of liquid water (and thus life) is likely one of the primary driving forces behind this interest.

A particularly striking feature of the change is the frequent slope line (RSL(Originally found by the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter)MRO).

Now, scholars are on SETI Institute At Modified theory of where those RSL might develop A mixture of water ice and salt under the surface of Mars.

According to the SETI team, led by a senior research scientist Janice Bishop, There is a two-step process to create these RSLs.

First, the ground water ice must be mixed with a mixture of Chlorine salts And the sulfate To create a type of mortar that destabilizes regolith in the area.

Then, dry winds and dust storms dominate Mars, blowing unstable material into new patterns across the Martian surface.

Krupac Crater is also showing RSL development. (NASA / Jet Propulsion Laboratory / University of Arizona)

This is not the first time that researchers have suggested that chlorine salts may be involved in creating RSL. As with much good science, this theory has now been further materialized through data collected in both field and laboratory experiments.

Unfortunately, field experiments have not been possible on Mars itself (at least not yet).

However, there are many places on our home planet that are “isotopes of Mars,” including Dead Sea In Israel, the Salar de Pagonales in the Atacama Desert, and Dry valleys In Antarctica.

The SETI team collected data at some of those sites and observed that surface instability was actually observed when the salt interacted with gypsum, a type of sulfate.

For this project, the team collected data in dry valleys, where the soil geology and temperature are remarkably similar to those on Mars by Phoenix Lander And MRO.

The fieldwork was then followed by the work of a laboratory, in which the Martian Analog Reunion Team was subjected to tests using colored indicators that would show how the regolith is simulation It will react when people experience the same type of chemical reaction that was happening in Antarctica.

Collecting all this data resulted in a geological model that includes sulphates, chlorides, and water that could explain the emergence of the RSLs seen on Mars.

The model also has implications for the viability of Mars below Earth’s surface and how the presence of this mud could affect any biosphere the red planet might have.

Until some tests are done in situ, this model will be difficult to prove, but there are a lot more of those planned for Mars in the near future.

This article was originally published by The universe today. Read the The original article.