Mars Underground Polygons Suggest Water-Shaped Geological History

2023-12-10 22:24:26

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Deep within Mars' equatorial region lies a massive honeycomb pattern, akin to Earth's polar geological formations. The vast network of crevasses, each stretching 70 meters and surrounded by icy, muddy borders 30 meters wide, may date back between 2 billion and 3.5 billion years. These underground structures were discovered utilizing data from China's Zhurong rover, which traversed the rocky expanse of Utopia Planitia.

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On Earth, comparable formations are known to materialize in the extreme cold of Greenland, Iceland, and Antarctica due to ground contraction and fracturing from severe temperature changes. The Martian patterns, substantially larger than their terrestrial counterparts, suggest a similar freeze-fracture phenomenon may have occurred on Mars billions of years ago. "These polygons are huge," remarked Zhang, highlighting their unprecedented size.

The fascinating Martian discovery bolsters evidence that liquid water once flowed on the Red Planet, potentially fostering conditions amenable to life. Intriguingly, the presence of these patterns in Mars' tropics implies that these regions, too, were once cold enough to enable the formation of such cracks, challenging conventional understanding of the planet's climate history.

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The curious patterns dovetail with a hypothesis positing that Mars' axis inclined at an angle far greater than present, reaching forty degrees or more some 5 million years ago. This drastic tilt could blur the lines between traditional polar cold and equatorial warmth, according to Zhang.

William Rapin, an unaffiliated researcher from the Institut de Recherche en Astrophysique et Planétologie in Paris, referred to the buried polygon discovery as "an interesting find" that could illuminate Mars' ancient conditions. Rapin has also investigated minute, similarly shaped mud cracks on Mars' Gale crater surface, explored by NASA's Curiosity rover.

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Studying Mars' ancient strata, well-preserved compared to Earth's frequently recycled surface, offers researchers a window into an era that might have been conducive to the genesis of life. The planet's tilt, or obliquity, has tipped over the last 3.5 billion years; this shifting axis would significantly impact Mars' sunlight exposure and climate. These findings contribute to understanding the precise timing of Mars' dramatic climate shifts, from a potential water-rich oasis to its current arid state.

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The buried pattern's depth of 35 meters suggests that the polygon formation underwent prolonged development before a sudden halt, which may indicate a swift transition to a milder climate. Zhang speculates that the cessation of temperature fluctuations would result in the curtailment of further surface fracturing, allowing soil deposition to seal the crevasses over time.

Following the suspension of communications with the Zhurong rover, scientists now turn to NASA's Curiosity, which—after reaching a milestone of 4,000 days on Martian soil—prepares to investigate a landscape etched with similarly significant fractures. Through these studies, Rapin anticipates gaining insights into Mars' distant, drier conditions and drawing parallels to the Utopia Planitia polygons.

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Rapin expresses a hopeful vision, albeit a challenging one, to reach those remote polygon formations. The detailed findings from these Martian geometries have been documented in a recent paper published in Nature Astronomy.

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