Martian snow source of tropical glaciers, research team reports
Snow is the source of glacial deposits found at the base of the majestic volcanoes and mountains dotting the mid-latitude and tropical regions of Mars. Based on an innovative blend of geological observations and climate modeling created by a team of American and French scientists, the finding appears in Science.
Discovery of the source of the tropical glaciers ends a 30-year Martian mystery. In 1976, cameras aboard NASA’s Viking Mission to Mars captured unprecedented views of the canyons and craters of the Red Planet – including polar ice caps. Recent spacecraft data reveal curious rock-strewn deposits found at the foot of volcanoes and mountains close to the equator.
In the last two years, Brown University planetary geologist James Head and other Mars experts have offered up mounting evidence that these ice-rich landforms – which appear to ooze out of valleys in the Eastern Hellas region or puddle on the western flanks of the three giant volcanoes known as the Tharsis Montes – are the remnants of geologically recent glaciers.
But how could ice form so far from the planet’s poles? Long-ago landslides? Upwelling from an underground reservoir?
“What we found,” Head said, “was that the glaciers were formed from snow brought from the polar regions.” (more…)
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