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Oblique view of Gale Crater, Mars, with vertical exaggeration. The image combines elevation data from the high-resolution stereo camera on the European Space Agency’s Mars Express orbiter, image data from the context camera on NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, and color information from the Viking Orbiter images. . Credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / ESA / DLR / FU Berlin / MSSS
Field geology at the equator of Mars points to an ancient mega-flood
Floods of unimaginable magnitude once passed through Gale Crater in Mars‘Ecuador about 4 billion years ago, a finding that suggests the possibility that life existed there, based on data compiled by POTThe Curiosity rover and analyzed in a joint project by scientists from Jackson State University, Cornell, the Jet Propulsion Laboratory and the University of Hawaii.
The research, “Giant Flood Deposits in Gale Crater and Their Implications for Early Mars Climate,” was published on November 5, 2020, in Nature Scientific reports.
The raging mega-flood, likely triggered by heat from a meteorite impact, unleashing stored ice on the Martian surface, created giant ripples that are telltale geological structures familiar to scientists on Earth.
“We identified mega-floods for the first time using detailed sedimentological data observed by the Curiosity rover,” said co-author Alberto G. Fairén, a visiting astrobiologist at the Faculty of Arts and Sciences. “The deposits left by the mega-floods had not been previously identified with the orbiter data.”
As is the case on Earth, geological features, including the work of water and wind, have been frozen in time on Mars for about 4 billion years. These features convey processes that shaped the surface of both planets in the past.
This false-color composite image of Mount Sharp inside Gale Crater on Mars shows geologists a changing planetary environment. On Mars, the sky is not blue, but the image was made to look like Earth so that scientists could distinguish the stratification layers. Credit: NASA / JPL
This case includes the appearance of giant wave-shaped features in the sedimentary layers of Gale Crater, often called “megaripples,” or anti-dunes that are about 30 feet high and spaced about 450 feet apart, according to lead author Ezat. Heydari, professor of physics. at Jackson State University.
The antidunes are indicative of the flow of mega-floods at the bottom of the Gale crater on Mars about 4 billion years ago, which are identical to features formed by melting ice on Earth about 2 million years ago, Heydari said.
The most likely cause of the flooding on Mars was melting ice from the heat generated by a large impact, which released carbon dioxide and methane from the planet’s frozen reservoirs. The water vapor and the release of gases combined to produce a brief period of hot and humid conditions on the red planet.
The condensation formed clouds of water vapor, which in turn created torrential rains, possibly across the planet. That water entered Gale Crater, then combined with the water coming down from Mount Sharp (in Gale Crater) to produce gigantic flash floods that deposited the gravel ridges on the Hummocky Plains Unit and the ridge band formations. and depressions in the striated unit.
The science team on the Curiosity rover has already established that Gale Crater once had persistent lakes and streams in the ancient past. These long-lived bodies of water are good indicators that the crater, as well as Mount Sharp within it, were capable of supporting microbial life.
“Early Mars was an extremely active planet from a geological point of view,” Fairén said. “The planet had the necessary conditions to support the presence of liquid water on the surface, and on Earth, where there is water, there is life.
“So early Mars was a habitable planet,” he said. “Was it inhabited? That’s a question the next Perseverance rover … will help answer. “
Perseverance, which launched from Cape Canaveral on July 30, is scheduled to arrive on Mars on February 18, 2021.
Reference: “Giant Flood Deposits in Gale Crater and Their Implications for Early Mars Climate” by E. Heydari, JF Schroeder, FJ Calef, J. Van Beek, SK Rowland, TJ Parker, and AG Fairén, November 5, 2020, Scientific reports.
DOI: 10.1038 / s41598-020-75665-7
Joining Fairén and Heydari in the article are Jeffrey F. Schroeder, Fred J. Calef, Jason Van Beek, and Timothy J. Parker of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory; and Scott K. Rowland, University of Hawaii.
Data and funding were provided by NASA, Malin Space Science Systems, the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, and the European Research Council.
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