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Unusual Martian mounds could help solve one of the red planet’s biggest mysteries

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Thousands of mysterious hills Mars Maintaining layers of evidence indicating the old water on the red planet that is likely to score tall formations.

More than 15,000 hills are heading towards the lowlands of Chris Krie, located near a natural division line between the southern and northern hemisphere of the planet. Geological features have long -fledged scientists, who have not yet been sure of what created the hills.

The configurations, which extend to a large area like Texas, can be seen in the photos taken by NASA and the European Space Agency roundabout that revolve around the Red Planet. The unusual features are similar to the famous pegs and the Mesas from the monument Valley along the border, Arizona Outah.

A new analysis of pictures and data collected by the orbits, published on January 20 in the magazine Geological natureHe shed light on the history of the hills. The results indicate the reason for a flagrant difference between the northern and southern hemisphere: the corrosion caused by water ranging from 4 billion to 3.8 billion years.

Hills act like time capsules that can help astronomers open the secrets of Mars.

“Each hill consists of a series of classes, each of which is a record of a previous event,” said the main author of the study, Dr. Joe McKenil, the scientist of the Planetary and post -PhD researcher at the Natural History Museum in London. “The largest on the bottom and consists of a rock of about four billion years old. For geology, looking at these layers is similar to looking at the pages of a book – everyone tells a story!”

The hills are located near the future landing site Esa’s Exomars Rosalind Franklin RoverIt is expected to be launched in 2028. There is an opportunity to investigate the hills by Rover, which may reveal more water history on the red planet and define resources for human exploration in the future.

Class -rich layers inside the hills indicate that the water interacts with rocks inside the region billions of years ago. – Esa/TGO/Cassis/NASA/JPL/MSSS/Arizona University

Investigate Mars from space

McNeil and his team used the pictures collected by the orbits that revolve around Mars to acquire visions about hills geology. The orbits carry sensors, cameras and other scientific tools that collect a set of data.

The hills looked similar to each other from a distance, but the high -resolution images taken by orbits allowed Moitil to enlarge, and revealed “an incredible diversity in its structure.”

While the screws and Missa in Wadi al -Nichera can reach 1000 feet (300 meters) over the valley floor and cover an area of ​​145 square miles, the piles of Mars reaches 1,800 feet (550 meters) and wearing it over an area of ​​2000 times larger. . Mars cups are also older, as they were for billions of years, instead of millions.

But McNeel’s analysis indicates that Mars hills are likely to be the remains of the old heights that were washed and worn, and were formed in the same way that the features of the valley of the monument are formed through corrosion.

McKenil said: “The results we found reveal that the water was on the surface and in the lower surface of this region in the geological term, between 4.0 (billion) and 3.8 billion years.” “The hills were originally part of the highlands, which consist of hundreds of meters of mud rich rocks that were formed in the presence of liquid water. Their erosion hundreds of kilometers shows that the highlands spanned the north (further) more than they do today, which provides new visions in ancient geography And hydrology of Mars.

There are thousands of giant hills in the lowlands of Mars. - Esa/dlr/fu Berlin

There are thousands of giant hills in the lowlands of Mars. – Esa/dlr/fu Berlin

Layers rich in mud inside the hills indicate that an abundance of water was present on the surface of Mars, and form chemical reactions with rocks. It can cause water, either in the form of liquid or ice, to erode fractures in the rocks.

McNeel said that while there is evidence to show that the rivers and raging lakes were once present on Mars, it is difficult to determine the type of water feature that caused corrosion.

“Most of the evidences were eroded, and the remainder – the hills – is so old that they also had 3.8 billion years of wind erosion over anything that made them manipulate in the first place.”

“It is like trying to understand a book plot where most pages are missing, and the rest is torn and faded. We can collect some story, but he left many of them for interpretation.”

One of the questions that McNeel and his colleagues in the study explore whether the old northern ocean on Mars has caused erosion, but the idea is a controversial idea discussed by scientists.

However, the automatic exploration of this region can determine whether the ocean is at all – and if life is inside it.

Explore the Mars puzzle

The hills in the north are directly from what is known as the Mars division, which is the natural borders between the shallow plains in the northern hemisphere and the high heights in the southern hemisphere. The southern highlands are largely placed by drilling and up to 5 miles (8 km) on average of soft plains and low lands above it.

McNeel said that the researchers struggled to determine what created the borders, which extends around the entire planet, which led to one of the largest secrets of Mars. The appearance of these borders differs around the planet, as it seems that some areas are directly connected to the lowlands to the highlands, while others contain sharp slopes.

Scientists have two main theories on the origins of the border.

Tektumet plate Give the Earth its continents and ocean basins, but Mars has no plate of its totoons. “This means that it is difficult to explain the reason for the presence of a very thick and thick crust, while the northern low lands are very small and thin.

“Some models have suggested that Mars in the north had giant effects or more in its history, creating an effective northern land as a great depression,” he explained. “Instead, it can be the result of scarfs based on the shift similar to the painting of the painting, but it has ended early in the history of Mars.”

McNeel said that there is evidence against both theories, and the discussion continues.

A study published in the January 16 issue of the magazine Geophysical research messages It indicates that Marsquakes, or tremors from inside Mars, was discovered by the retired now The task of seeing NASA Re indicate the thermal load inside Mars under the surface as a division driver.

The authors of the study said that the thermal load, or the transmission of heat from one spot to another, has most likely occurred in the cloak, or the inner layer, from Mars billions of years ago. The scarf is located between the planet crust and the nucleus.

The artist's impression depicts EXOMARS Rosalind Franklin Rover on the surface of Mars. - Esa/Atg Medialab

The artist’s impression depicts EXOMARS Rosalind Franklin Rover on the surface of Mars. – Esa/Atg Medialab

Approaching the hills

McNeil began investigating the hills of the Chryse Planitia near the division as part of a doctoral program while he was at the Open University in England because it is believed to be a “major location for future Mars tasks”.

The areas close to the hills, such as Acrovance and Mawrist Vallis, are of interest to scientists because they may preserve the signs of previous life on Mars. The hills extend to 310 miles (500 km) between Mawrist Vallis and Oxia Planum, but the majority of the hills in the study are closer to the Mawth Vallis, located in the lowlands north and west of the region.

The researchers wanted to understand the structure of the hills before sending an automatic explorer to the area. - Esa/tgo/Cassis, nasa/jpl/msss

The researchers wanted to understand the structure of the hills before sending an automatic explorer to the area. – Esa/tgo/Cassis, nasa/jpl/msss

Mawrist Vallis and Oxia Planum have been the candidate for the future landing site of Rosalind Franklin Rover. But the mission team has decided that Oxosia would provide a safer site for landing and transcending the terrain, according to what he said Esa.

The hills that have been investigated in the study are hundreds of kilometers away from Acia, but the smaller hills that carry the same formula on the landing site will be within reach to monitor proximity and image.

“This is very exciting because this means that by exploring these plains, Rover will tell us a lot about the largest area, and perhaps about the environments there and whether they are suitable for housing,” said McNeel. ((Hills) was the key to understanding how this field is related to Mars together. “

Light and dark deposits in the Mawrist Vallis refer to clay minerals formed in the presence of water. - Esa/dlr/fu Berlin

Light and dark deposits in the Mawrist Vallis refer to clay minerals formed in the presence of water. – Esa/dlr/fu Berlin

Francois Polly, an astronomer at the French Institute of Astronomical Space Physics that he has He studied Maurth Valis regionHe said he believed that McNeel’s study provides more details and evidence on how to form the hills. Poulet did not participate in the new study.

“This study enhances my feeling that Mawrist Vallis is really a unique area and one of the best areas that are explored through a future automated mission,” Polit said.

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