The study, published in Communications Earth & Environment, reports laboratory experiments designed to recreate a range of past Martian conditions. A team led by Georgia Tech and including other research groups ran more than 70 experiments in a Mars simulation chamber. They tested flowing mixes of water and sediment across pressures and temperatures thought to have existed on Mars.
Changing pressure produced sediment-rich flows with distinct shapes and behaviors. At higher pressures the water–mud flows resembled Earth processes and so some ancient Martian deposits may have formed in more habitable conditions. As Mars lost atmosphere after the Noachian, freezing and boiling became dominant and the flow rheology and deposit morphology diverged from Earth analogs.
The authors also found that small-scale climate variations across topography could produce different behaviors at the same time. They suggest that comparing lab morphologies with remote sensing and rover data could help time-stamp Mars’s paleoclimate and refine geological interpretations.
Difficult words
- recreate — to make again in similar conditions
- sediment — small particles of rock or soil carried by water
- pressure — force from weight or gases on a surfacepressures
- rheology — study of how materials flow under force
- morphology — shape and structure of a natural objectmorphologies
- topography — the shape and features of land surface
- paleoclimate — the climate of the Earth or planet long ago
- remote sensing — collecting information from distance using instruments
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Discussion questions
- Do you think finding flows that resemble Earth processes means parts of ancient Mars were habitable? Why or why not?
- How could small-scale climate differences across topography change the appearance of deposits?
- What information from rovers would you compare with lab experiments to learn about Mars’s past climate?
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