tech2 Staff NewsMar 01, 2021 12:05:26 IST
A satellite orbiting the Earth has captured images of wonder that scientists have fallen into disrepair. A strange landscape seen in the cold depths of Arctic Siberia, Russia, near the Markha River, shows widespread upheavals that scientists could not explain. Images from NASA’s Landsat 8 satellite took several years, and were recently shared with the space agency on their Earth Observatory website. The images show ripples on land on either side of the Markha river, with light and dark stripes respectively that give it a deceptively similar optical quality. While visible in all four seasons, the effect is more pronounced in winter, when white snow makes an even more striking contrast to the pattern, NASA said in the statement. The space agency is not entirely sure what will cause the pattern on Siberian soil.
Scientists have passed through the hills in northern Russia. Image credit: NASA / Landsat 8 Earth Theater
One explanation given by the space agency was related to the frigid temperature of the region. With many Siberian slopes spending 90 percent of the year covered by a climate that sometimes melts for short periods, a continuous freezing-thaw cycle works. This could include strange circular or strip designs known as patterned earth, the statement says, as stones settle themselves in each frozen cycle.
The stripes covering a portion of the Central Siberian Platform vary according to the season. Image: NASA Universe Theater
NASA also acknowledges that other observed examples of patterned earth have been much smaller than the sample in Siberia. The other explanation is that group enterprises erode surface. Geologist Thomas Crafford, with a U.S. geological survey, told NASA that the strips resemble a pattern in sedimentary rock called cover cake geology, which occurs when snow or melting water runs down the hill, sloping away and dripping pieces of sedimentary rock into hills. The resulting sedimentary slabs look very much like slices of coated cake.
Crafford says the darker stripes represent deeper areas, with the lighter stripes representing flatter areas. Exactly what causes the strange streaks to remain a mystery until the site is closely examined.