A new study suggests that craters on Mars may have formed when the Red Planet tilted violently, causing drastic climate changes that caused water to flow down slopes and carve craters. In 2000, scientists first discovered craters on Mars. These channels are very similar to the channels on Earth cut by the waters of melting glaciers in the dry valleys of Antarctica. Thus, Martian canyons implied that water once flowed on Mars, and perhaps still flows at times.

“They look a lot like Earth but they’re on Mars, so how could they form there?” The study’s lead author, James Dixon, a planetary scientist at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, told Space.com. “It was a big puzzle that many scientists were working on.”

The problem with the possibility of troughs on Mars is that these troughs are often found at altitudes where liquid water cannot be expected in the current Martian climate. At this time, the air on the Red Planet is often too cold and diluted for liquid water to last so long, and just like on Earth, it is even colder and diluted at higher altitudes than at lower altitudes.

Previous studies have suggested that these craters may have another source: carbon dioxide frost, which sublimates or turns directly into steam during warm periods on Mars, causing rocks and debris to slide down slopes. However, not much is known about this scenario as it does not occur in nature on Earth.

Another possibility is that these craters formed in the past when the Martian climate was more favorable for small amounts of liquid water to remain on the Martian surface. This may explain the height of the valleys – meltwater from glaciers can flow down the slopes, cutting channels.

To find out if there is liquid water on Mars, scientists studied how the tilt or tilt of its axis changed over time, and the possible consequences of this tilt. The more tilted the planet’s poles are in relation to its orbit around the Sun, the more fluctuations the amount of sunlight received by different parts of the world throughout the year.

Earth’s axial tilt is about 23.5 degrees, and seasons occur. Mars currently has an inclination of about 25 degrees, but has fluctuated between 15 and 35 degrees over hundreds of thousands of years, which could result in more drastic climate changes.

The scientists investigated how the timing of Mars’ greater tilt would lead to more extreme fluctuations between winter and summer and a potentially more favorable climate for liquid water. They developed a 3D spherical model of the Martian climate to see what could happen at a 35-degree angle.

Scientists have discovered that where craters currently exist on Mars, the sublimation of ice from carbon dioxide makes the Martian atmosphere much denser. Additionally, surface temperatures likely exceeded the melting point of water ice. These conditions probably occurred repeatedly over the past few million years, the last time being about 630,000 years ago.

Also, these beams now have a lot of water ice near the surface, and probably many more in the last million years. The researchers suggest that during the great tilt of the axis, much of this ice may have melted and hollowed out the high-altitude craters where they are now visible.

Overall, scientists say a combination of melting ice, sublimation of carbon dioxide, and high inclination could help explain the pattern of craters seen on Mars.

“An important implication is that we can now predict that when Mars’ orbit is tilted again, it may produce meltwater in these mountain passes,” Dixon said. Said.

Because life on Earth is found almost everywhere where there is water, future research may want to focus on these craters on Mars to see if life once existed on the Red Planet and still lives there.

“If you were looking for present life, these places would be good targets,” Dixon said. Source