{"id":1387,"date":"2020-11-25T14:00:28","date_gmt":"2020-11-25T14:00:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thenextweb.com\/?p=1329243"},"modified":"2020-11-25T14:00:28","modified_gmt":"2020-11-25T14:00:28","slug":"a-mars-megaflood-may-be-evidence-of-ancient-waterways-and-maybe-life","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.londonchiropracter.com\/?p=1387","title":{"rendered":"A Mars megaflood may be evidence of ancient waterways \u2014 and maybe life"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

L<\/span>ong ago, when our solar system was young, Mars was a world teeming with water. Researchers at Cornell University have now found evidence of an ancient massive megaflood on the Red Planet.<\/p>\n

Gale Crater, explored by the Curiosity rover, provided data showing distinct signs of a titanic flood, roughly four billion years in the past. This finding could provide further evidence that <\/span>Mars<\/a> <\/span>once had a climate suitable for the development of primitive life.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe identified megafloods for the first time using detailed sedimentological data observed by the rover Curiosity. Deposits left behind by megafloods had not been previously identified with orbiter data,\u201d <\/span>Alberto Fair\u00e9n<\/a>, a visiting astrobiologist in the College of Arts and Sciences at Cornell University, stated.<\/p>\n

[Read: Why this security engineer loves working in infosec<\/span><\/a>]<\/em><\/p>\n

Ripple in swift water\u2026<\/h2>\n
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\"Image
<\/i><\/a>Gale crater, filled with water, as it may have appeared billions of years ago. NASA\/JPL-Caltech<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

Ancient geological features seen on Mars by the <\/span>Curiosity rover<\/a> <\/span>show megaripples, or antidunes, almost 10 meters (30 feet) high in sedimentary layers. These waves are placed roughly 140 meters (450 feet) apart from each other.<\/p>\n

Ezat Heydari, a professor of physics at Jackson State University, points out that similar features, created just two million years ago, are known on <\/span>Earth<\/a>. On our own planet, these features are created by melting ice.<\/p>\n

\u201cFeatures indicative of floods are a series of symmetrical, 10 m-high gravel ridges that occur in the Hummocky Plains Unit (HPU). Their regular spacing, internal sedimentary structures, and bedload transport of fragments as large as 20 cm suggest that these ridges are antidunes: a type of sedimentary structure that forms under very strong flows,\u201d Heydari and his team report in an article detailing their study published in <\/span>Scientific Reports<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n

He\u2019ll never make it through this heavy bom-bard-a-ment\u2026<\/h2>\n
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\"Image
<\/i><\/a>Gale crater as it appears today. Image credit: NASA\/JPL-Caltech\/University of Arizona<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

The Noachian Period on Mars, lasting from roughly 4.1 billion years ago (BYO) to 3.7 BYO, roughly corresponds to the Late Heavy Bombardment era of our solar system. This period was marked by massive, frequent collisions between planets and objects, large and small, coursing through the Solar System. This era also marks the time when <\/span>Mars<\/a> <\/span>was, literally, awash with water.<\/p>\n

Researchers speculate these megaripples are the result of heat generated by a massive impact on Mars in the distant past. Such an impact would have released vast quantities of carbon dioxide, water vapor, and methane from beneath the surface of Mars, warming the <\/span>Red Planet<\/a> <\/span>for a short time.<\/p>\n

Water vapor rising into the Martian atmosphere would have formed water clouds, much like those on Earth. These conditions, in turn, led to torrential rains which may have engulfed the Red Planet.<\/p>\n

Gale Crater would have been flooded by <\/span>water<\/a> <\/span>pouring into the basin, including a torrent racing down the steep incline of Mount Sharp.<\/p>\n

Water from the south of the crater, racing north, was at least 24 meters (nearly 80 feet) deep, moving at 10 meters per second (20\u201325 MPH), the study concluded.<\/p>\n

Massive flash floods would have deposited the gravel ridges seen by Curiosity in the Hummocky Plains Unit and the Striated Unit. These ridge-and-trough band formations, resembling waves in the ground, dominate large regions of Arizona.<\/p>\n

My name is Henry Gale! I\u2019m from Minnesota!<\/h2>\n
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