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- Aeolis Serpens, Mars’ longest sinuous ridge, is an ancient riverbed
- Most deltas on Mars created by short, catastrophic floods
- Are brines actually needed to make recurring slope lineae flow?
- ‘Faint young Sun paradox’ a problem for Mars (and Earth, too)
- Gale’s winds sculpted the Mt. Sharp mound as they built it
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Tag Archives: water
Aeolis Serpens, Mars’ longest sinuous ridge, is an ancient riverbed
A linear ridge that winds for more than 200 kilometers (120 miles) through part of South Australia was a river channel roughly 10 million years ago. After the paleoriver stopped flowing, silica-rich groundwater seeped into the riverbed, cementing its sediments. … Continue reading
Posted in Reports
Tagged Aeolis Dorsa, Aeolis Serpens, climate, CTX, fluvial channels, fluvial landforms, groundwater, HiRISE, Medusae Fossae formation, sinuous ridge, water
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Most deltas on Mars created by short, catastrophic floods
Rivers that run into lakes and other standing bodies of water drop sediment where the flow slackens as it enters the body of water. Over time, the accumulating material builds a delta — a wedge of sediment whose form can … Continue reading
Posted in Reports
Tagged atmosphere, channels, climate, climate change, crater lakes, delta, deltas, floods, water
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Are brines actually needed to make recurring slope lineae flow?
Recurring slope lineae (RSL) are finger-like dark lines on steep slopes that appear and grow longer during the warmest time of year, then fade and disappear over winter. They repeat the following Mars year in the same places. While scientists … Continue reading
Posted in Reports
Tagged atmosphere, climate, climate change, Context Camera, CTX, HiRISE, ice, lineae, LPSC 2013, Mars Odyssey, Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, recurrent slope lineae, recurring slope lineae, RSL, TES, Thermal Emission Imaging System, Thermal Emission Spectrometer, water
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‘Faint young Sun paradox’ a problem for Mars (and Earth, too)
Astronomers say that billions of years ago when the Sun was young, it shone with only 70 percent its current brightness, notes Robert Craddock (Smithsonian Institution). If that were true of today’s Sun, he explains, Earth’s surface would freeze over, … Continue reading
Posted in Reports
Tagged atmosphere, climate, climate change, faint young Sun paradox, fluvial channels, Kepler Observatory, LPSC 2013, valley networks, water, wind
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Gale Crater’s Lake District
Mars rover Curiosity landed on, or just beyond, the far end of an alluvial fan — rocks, gravel, and sand washed down by the Peace River from the north rim of Gale Crater. The rover has driven for 200 sols … Continue reading
Posted in Reports
Tagged alluvial fan, climate change, Crater Lake, craters, Curiosity, Gale Crater, HiRISE, LPSC 2013, MSL, water
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Subsurface radar profiles Marte Vallis outflow channel in 3D
Ground-penetrating radar on NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) reveals buried channels that show floods of water from Cerberus Fossae eroded Marte Vallis in two distinct stages, and they did so to a much greater extent than is visible today. The … Continue reading
Posted in Reports
Tagged channels, Elysium, Elysium Planitia, Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, Marte Vallis, MRO, outflow channels, Shallow Radar, SHARAD, water
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Megaflood carved a valley in a week
Morella Crater is an ancient impact scar 78 kilometers (49 miles) across that sits barely 5 km (3 mi) away from the southern edge of the large canyon, Ganges Chasma. Roughly 3 billion years ago, groundwater filled Morella Crater with … Continue reading
Posted in Reports
Tagged channels, Crater Lake, Elaver Vallis, Ganges Cavus, Ganges Chasma, groundwater, megaflood, Morella Crater, outflow channels, water
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What Earth’s saltiest pond says about Mars
An Antarctic pond that’s the saltiest natural body of water on Earth stays wet in part by pulling moisture out of the air, scientists have discovered. And that has implications for possible brine seeps and reservoirs on Mars. Don Juan … Continue reading
Posted in Reports
Tagged Antarctica, brine, brine seeps, brines, calcium chloride, deliquescence, Don Juan Pond, ice, lineae, liquid water, pond, recurrent slope lineae, recurring slope lineae, RSL, water
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Hardened arteries in Nili and Nilo
Water seeping through conduits and cracks in the deep subsurface rocks of Nilosyrtis and Nili Fossae left behind minerals, like hard-water deposits that collect in the plumbing of your house. (Or cholesterol in your arteries.) Then as the softer rocks … Continue reading
Posted in Reports
Tagged clay minerals, cracks, CTX, Curiosity, fractures, Gale Crater, groundwater, gypsum, HiRISE, Mars Exploration Rovers, Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, MSL, Nili Fossae, Nilosyrtis, Opportunity, phyllosilicates, water
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Mars’ ancient climate had a “wet-pass” filter
Volcanic eruptions — and the rocks they produce — dominate the surface of the Red Planet. Mars also shows evidence for activity by liquid water — sediments, channels, and valley networks — through much of its history. While volcanos can … Continue reading
Posted in Reports
Tagged atmosphere, climate, climate change, Curiosity, Gale Crater, ice, Mars Science Laboratory, Mount Sharp, snowmelt, water
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