Researchers studying odd fan-like formations of material on Mars have concluded that they could have been made by the speedy release of large amounts of water, possibly from the interior of the planet.
The formations in question look a bit like dry river deltas, with fan-like deposits of material. About ten on the planet have steps down into the basin that apparently served as a receptacle for the water – a formation that isn't seen here on Earth.
While working with students on a film about the creating of Martian fans, researchers in Utrecht found that they had inadvertently created the step-like formations in a mock crater they had filled with water. Naturally, they decided to turn this into a full-blown experiment.
What seems to plausibly explain the Martian stepped fans is the rapid release of water from the planet's interior, possibly as the result of hydrothermal water pushed to the surface, Krall says. Water volumes would have been large – as much as the Mississippi river flowing for 10
years, over the course of several decades.
A paper on the experiments is being published in tomorrow's edition of Nature.
Unique Martian formation reproduced, reveals brief bursts of water [Virginia Tech]
(Image: A stepped, fan-like deposit of material created in a mock crater by researchers. Credit: Erin Kraal)
