New! Sign up for our free email newsletter.
Science News
from research organizations

Glaciers in the Grand Canyon of Mars?

Date:
September 29, 2014
Source:
Geological Society of America
Summary:
For decades, planetary geologists have speculated that glaciers might once have crept through Valles Marineris, the 2000-mile-long chasm that constitutes the Grand Canyon of Mars. Using satellite images, researchers have identified features that might have been carved by past glaciers as they flowed through the canyons; however, these observations have remained highly controversial and contested.
Share:
FULL STORY

For decades, planetary geologists have speculated that glaciers might once have crept through Valles Marineris, the 2000-mile-long chasm that constitutes the Grand Canyon of Mars. Using satellite images, researchers have identified features that might have been carved by past glaciers as they flowed through the canyons; however, these observations have remained highly controversial and contested.

Now, a joint team from Bryn Mawr College and the Freie Universitaet Berlin has identified what could be the first mineralogical evidence of past glaciers within the Valles Marineris: a layer of mixed sulfate minerals halfway up the three-mile-high cliffs of Ius Chasma at the western end of the canyon system.

The team -- including Selby Cull (Bryn Mawr College), Patrick McGuire and Christoph Gross (Freie Universitaet Berlin), and Bryn Mawr undergraduate student researchers Jenna Myers and Nina Shmorhun -- mapped the acid-sulfate mineral jarosite along the canyon wall.

They speculate that it may have formed via a mechanism similar to one observed at glaciers in the Svalbard on Earth: Atmospheric sulfur becomes trapped in the ice, is warmed by the sun, and reacts with the water to produce highly acidic sulfate minerals like jarosite along the margins of the glacier.


Story Source:

Materials provided by Geological Society of America. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.


Journal Reference:

  1. S. Cull, P. C. McGuire, C. Gross, J. Myers, N. Shmorhun. A new type of jarosite deposit on Mars: Evidence for past glaciation in Valles Marineris? Geology, 2014; DOI: 10.1130/G36152.1

Cite This Page:

Geological Society of America. "Glaciers in the Grand Canyon of Mars?." ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 29 September 2014. <www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/09/140929154248.htm>.
Geological Society of America. (2014, September 29). Glaciers in the Grand Canyon of Mars?. ScienceDaily. Retrieved March 18, 2024 from www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/09/140929154248.htm
Geological Society of America. "Glaciers in the Grand Canyon of Mars?." ScienceDaily. www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/09/140929154248.htm (accessed March 18, 2024).

Explore More

from ScienceDaily

RELATED STORIES