A new piece of evidence found on Mars confirms that the planet used to have a landslide. This explains why Mars used to be favorable for keeping life there. Published on February 3, 2021, the new study from the journal Science Advances states that scientists have found evidence that a “slush flow like liquid” was created as a result of the chemical reaction between melting ice. and the Red Planet salt substrate.
Scientists discover mysterious dark streaks on Mars
The “liquid-like flow slush” referenced in the journal causes the landslides to leave dark, narrow lines called recirculating slope lineae (RSLs) on the Martian surface. However, scientists believe that the frozen slush is too salty for harbor life now, but around 2 billion to 3 billion years ago, the Red Planet may have had a prosperous life. This was first reported by Live Science after the study’s lead author Janice Bishop, a senior research scientist at the SETI Institute, emailed about the same.
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According to the report, the Bishop noted that scientists have known that there have been landslides on Mars for at least a decade. The previously discovered landslides were found near Mars’ Palikir and Krupac trenches. However, they only had images of small landslides, known as “slumps” and RSLs, taken with a NASA High-Resolution Imaging Experiment (HiRISE) camera.
Image ~ © NASA / JPL / University of Arizona
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The expansion and migration of the salt crystals through Mars soil may be due to the chemical reactions between the sulfate and salt crystals. However, Janice Bishop considers it a “very slow process” due to the cold temperatures on Mars. The temperature on the Red Planet is very frozen as it is believed that it can drop to 80 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 62 degrees Celsius) near the streaks.
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In the report by Live Science, the Bishop also noted that in a few months, the landslides show changes in shape and structure. The scientist came to this conclusion by looking at the images recently released by HiRISE. Later the scientists experimented to better understand the process. They brought with them sulfates, chloride salts, ice fragments and volcanic ash found from several Mars – like places on Earth such as the McMurdo Dry Valley, the Dead Sea and the Salar de Pajonales. The mixture was then frozen at a temperature similar to that of Mars. However, they saw that before the mixture could melt, the temperature was rising. The experts later observed that, under cold temperatures, chlorine and sulfate salts separated and as a result ice water moved between the mixtures “almost like passing a football down the field. . “This caused land contamination and landslides.
According to the Bishop’s statement to Living Science, Mars does not currently have life, however, we can safely expect that the Red Planet could have a favorable environment for its maintenance just as places another on Earth similar to the position of the planet. In a statement to the Bishop of Living Science he said: “We do not yet know how early Mars evolved to modern day Mars with a harsh, cold and dry environment”.
(Disclaimer: The detailed descriptions of their findings were posted online on February 3, 2021. They can be read in the journal Science Advances.)
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