Changes in the geography of Mars always attract significant scientific and even public attention. Hope for signs of liquid water (and therefore life) is probably one of the main drivers of this interest.
A particularly striking changing feature is the Lineae Recorting Slope Lineae (RSL) originally found by the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO).
Now, scientists at the SETI Institute have a modified theory as to where these RSLs could develop: a combination of water ice and salt just below the Martian surface.
According to the SETI team, led by senior research scientist Janice Bishop, there is a two-step process that creates these RSLs.
First, groundwater gel must be mixed with a combination of chlorine salts and sulfates to create a type of slurry that destabilizes the regolith in the area.
Then, the dry wind and dust storms of Mars take over, turning the destabilized material into new patterns across the Martian surface.
The Krupac crater also shows RSL development. (NASA / JPL / University of Arizona)
It’s not the first time researchers have suggested that chlorine salts could be involved in creating RSL. As with many good sciences, this theory has become more concrete through data collected in both field and laboratory experiments.
Unfortunately, field experiments could not be carried out on Mars itself (at least not yet).
However, there are several places on our home planet that are considered “analogues of Mars,” including the Dead Sea in Israel, the Salar de Pajonales in the Atacama Desert, and the dry valleys of Antarctica.
The SETI team collected data at some of these sites and noted that surface destabilization has already been observed when salt interacts with gypsum, a type of sulfate.
For this project, the team collected data in dry valleys, where geology and soil temperature are remarkably similar to those found on Mars by Phoenix Lander and MRO.
The fieldwork was followed by laboratory work, as the team subjected an analog Mars regulator to tests with color indicators that would show how the regulator simulant would react when subjects of the same type of chemical reactions took place. in Antarctica.
All this data collection resulted in a geological model involving sulfates, chlorides, and water that may explain the appearance of RSLs seen on the surface of Mars.
The model also has implications for the habitability of Mars below the surface and how the presence of this slurry can affect any biosphere that the red planet may have.
Until there is more in-situ testing, this model will be difficult to prove, but there are plenty of predictions for Mars in the near future.
This article was originally published by Universe Today. Read the original article.