Unusual Plates on Mars
Explanation:
What are those unusual plates on Mars?
A
leading current interpretation holds that they are
blocks of ice floating on a recently frozen sea covered by dust.
The unusual plates were photographed recently by the
European Space Agency's
Mars Express spacecraft currently orbiting
Mars.
Oddly, the region lies near the
Martian equator
and not near either of Mars'
frozen polar caps.
Without being covered by
dust, any water or ice near
away from the poles would quickly
evaporate right into the
atmosphere.
Evidence that the
above-imaged plates really are dust-covered
water-ice includes a similarity in appearance to
ice blocks off Earth's Antarctica,
nearby surface fractures from which underground water could have flowed,
and the shallow depth of the
craters indicating that something is filling them in.
If correct, the low abundance of craters indicates
that water may have flowed on
Mars
as recently as five million years ago.
Authors & editors:
Robert Nemiroff
(MTU) &
Jerry Bonnell
(USRA)
NASA Web Site Statements, Warnings,
and Disclaimers
NASA Official: Jay Norris.
Specific
rights apply.
A service of:
LHEA at
NASA /
GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.
