Changes in the geography of Mars always attract much scientific and even public attention. Hope for signs of melt water (and therefore life) is likely one of the main driving forces behind this interest.
One notable variable feature is the Lineae Slope Recurring (RSL) first discovered by the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO).
Now, scientists at the SETI Institute have a modified theory for where these RSLs could develop – a mixture of water and salt ice just below the Martian surface.
According to the SETI team, led by Senior Research Scientist Janice Bishop, a two-step process is underway that will create these RSLs.
First, groundwater ice must be mixed with a mixture of chlorine salts and sulfates to form a kind of silk that will disinfect the regolith in the area.
Then, storms of wind and dust take over Mars, blowing the undeveloped material into new patterns over the Martian surface.
Krupac Crater is also showing RSL development. (NASA / JPL / University of Arizona)
This is not the first time researchers have suggested that chlorine salts may be involved in the formation of RSLs. Like much good science, this theory is now being further disseminated through data collected in both field and laboratory experiments.
Unfortunately, it was not possible to conduct the field experiments on Mars itself (at least not yet).
However, there are several places on our home planet that are considered “analogs of Mars”, including the Dead Sea in Israel, the Salar de Pajonales in the Atacama Desert, and the Dry Straits in Israel. Antarctica.
The SETI team collected data at some of these locations and noted that surface disinfection was already observed when salt interacted with gypsum, a type of sulfate.
For this project, the team collected data in the dry valleys, where the geology of the earth and temperature are very similar to those found on Mars by the Phoenix and MRO surfaces.
Fieldwork was then followed by a lab, as the team went through analog Mars experiments to experiments using colored markers that showed how the regolith simulator would react when subjects to the same type of chemical reaction that took place in Antarctica.
As a result of all this data collection, a geological model was introduced of sulfates, chlorides, and water that could mimic the appearance of the RSLs seen on the surface of Mars.
The model also influences the ability of Mars to inhabit subsurface and how the presence of this cement could affect any biosphere that may be on the red planet.
Until further testing on the site it will be difficult to test this model, but many of these are planned for Mars soon.
This article was originally published by Universe Today. Read the original article.