Mystery of Lava-Like Flows On Mars Solved By Scientists (phys.org) 23
The mystery of some lava-like flows on Mars has been solved by scientists who say they are caused not by lava but by mud. Phys.Org reports: There are tens of thousands of these landforms on the Martian surface, often situated where there are massive channels scoured into the surface by ancient liquids flowing downstream. These channels are extremely long, extending many hundreds of kilometers in length and usually more than dozens of kilometers wide. They are believed to be the result of massive floods involving huge bodies of water comparable to the largest floods ever known to have occurred on Earth. When the water seeps into the subsurface it can emerge again as mud.
A European team of researchers has now simulated the movement of mud on the surface of Mars, with the results published in Nature Geoscience. [...] Using the Mars Chamber at the Open University, the scientists recreated the surface temperature and atmospheric pressure on Mars as part of a simulation of conditions on both Earth and Mars. The scientists performed experiments at low pressure and at extremely cold temperatures (-20C) to recreate the Martian environment. They found that free flowing mud under Martian conditions behaves differently from on Earth, because of rapid freezing and the formation of an icy crust. This is because water is not stable and begins to boil and evaporate. The evaporation removes latent heat from the mud, eventually causing it to freeze.
Under Martian conditions, the experimental mud flows formed similar shapes to "pahoehoe" lava frequently occurring on Hawaii or Iceland on Earth, which cools down to form smooth undulating surfaces. In the experiment, this happened when liquid mud spilled from ruptures in the frozen crust, then refroze. However, under terrestrial atmospheric pressure, the experimental mud flows did not form lava shapes, did not expand, and had no icy crust, even under very cold conditions.
A European team of researchers has now simulated the movement of mud on the surface of Mars, with the results published in Nature Geoscience. [...] Using the Mars Chamber at the Open University, the scientists recreated the surface temperature and atmospheric pressure on Mars as part of a simulation of conditions on both Earth and Mars. The scientists performed experiments at low pressure and at extremely cold temperatures (-20C) to recreate the Martian environment. They found that free flowing mud under Martian conditions behaves differently from on Earth, because of rapid freezing and the formation of an icy crust. This is because water is not stable and begins to boil and evaporate. The evaporation removes latent heat from the mud, eventually causing it to freeze.
Under Martian conditions, the experimental mud flows formed similar shapes to "pahoehoe" lava frequently occurring on Hawaii or Iceland on Earth, which cools down to form smooth undulating surfaces. In the experiment, this happened when liquid mud spilled from ruptures in the frozen crust, then refroze. However, under terrestrial atmospheric pressure, the experimental mud flows did not form lava shapes, did not expand, and had no icy crust, even under very cold conditions.
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Slashdot! Where even trolls have trolls.
OFFTOPIC (Score:4, Informative)
Today I opened Slashdot to be greeted by a pop-up We value your privacy” blah blah cookie settings. No biggie... except it was behind a page-wide semi transparent wall. I had to edit the HTML and delete the element to be able to accept that privacy PoS.
Slashdot, if you put a blocking element on the page, make sure you put it BEHIND the pop-up element.
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Today I opened Slashdot to be greeted by a pop-up We value your privacy” blah blah cookie settings. No biggie... except it was behind a page-wide semi transparent wall. I had to edit the HTML and delete the element to be able to accept that privacy PoS.
Slashdot, if you put a blocking element on the page, make sure you put it BEHIND the pop-up element.
Hey they do have to pay the rent your know. Unless you want to host it! How the hell else can google put directed adds on slashdot.
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That;s not the problem, the problem was I could not click anything because they added the blocking element in front of the pop-in.
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That;s not the problem, the problem was I could not click anything because they added the blocking element in front of the pop-in.
Ok that does sound a little fishy though; almost like the browser reacted to a temp redirect pop page script without an address that you can read in the code. Hopefully by clicking on accept you won't need to make a trip to Mars and My Clean PC if you are running Windows.
I have not seen it yet, you might have been the only beta tester who got left in the cold flowing mud. However it does seem that some of the web coding going on on Slashdot lately is being done on Mars. Just don't try running with adverts
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extremely cold temperatures (Score:4, Funny)
" at extremely cold temperatures (-20C)"
If you think that -20C (-4F) is extremely cold, then you haven't lived in Minnesota during the winter.
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Fahrenheit: 0F=cold; 100F=hot
Metric: 0C=chilly; 100C=dead
Kelvin: 0K=dead; 100K=dead
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To be fair, most people haven't ever lived in Minnesota at any point in their lives.
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I recall a scientist pointing out Mars had enough atmosphere all you needed was oxygen and a good winter coat. But because of perchlorates, now even that won't work.
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At least Martian don't have to worry about covid. (Score:1)
The chicken pox got them all. Most likely the only life left will be worm like creatures with some form of antifreeze flowing as their blood. Just walk without rhythm and the worm will go to the thumper. I guess that Spirit and Opportunity didn't land in a mud desert section otherwise the worms would have surely gotten them!
not solved, but a working theory. (Score:2)
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A theory supported by detailed analysis. Do you claim nothing is ever solved in astrophysics and planetary studies?
Not a proof though (Score:2)
It's just one way it could have happened.
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Do you know of others? Please share.
...by SCIENTISTS? (Score:2)
Mystery of Lava-Like Flows On Mars Solved By Scientists
HA! Take that, Scooby-Doo! Your services will not be needed today.
Makes Sense, Vast Amount of Fluid Lava Not Needed (Score:2)
The pahoehoe flow form originates from a fluid, but still somewhat viscous, material that freezes at ambient temperature. In Mars mud is like that, and so produced similar forms. This can be compared to the frozen gas tectonics on Pluto. Same physical processes, similar forms, different materials due to different temperatures.
Gaping hole (Score:2)
The journal article is paywalled so I don't know if it considers this, but the abstract makes no mention of it.
Mars has 38% the surface gravity of Earth. Any attempt at Mars fluid flow simulations you do on Earth's surface are going to be laughably wrong because of that difference. If you successfully replicate a flow form in Earth gravity but Mars temperature and atmospheric pressure, you have only determined with certainty one mechanism it can't be. Fluids behave very differently in reduced gravity. W