Melting water from glaciers may have formed Martian valleys relatively recently. Reported by Brown University.
In previous geological epochs, Mars was a wet planet, it rained regularly, rivers flowed and pooled in lakes or seas. About 3 billion years ago, almost all of the water on the Martian surface disappeared because the atmospheric pressure dropped so much that the ice quickly turned into steam when heated.
To work, carried out Jim Head and his colleagues at Brown University are dedicated to Martian valleys, which are very similar to the valleys that form on Earth in the Dry Valleys of Antarctica. They are formed from water flowing from glaciers. Scientists have created a model that simulates a hot Martian period with temperatures above 0 that could lead to short-lived puddles.
The authors found that during ages when Mars was tilted 35 degrees with respect to its rotational axis, the atmosphere became dense enough to melt the water in the valleys. In other words, as Mars changes its rotation parameters around its axis, liquid water can form on it, forming valleys. According to the authors, these conditions have occurred multiple times over the past few million years, most recently ~630,000 years ago. Prior to this, scientists explained soil erosion by the sublimation of carbon dioxide from it.
Formerly paleontologists to solvethat the ancient megalodon shark was warm-blooded.