ESA’s Mars Express Sees Signs Of A ‘Frozen Sea’

KingFishKingFish
edited February 2005 in Science & Tech

The water that formed the sea appears to have originated beneath the surface of Mars, and to have come out through a series of fractures known as the Cerberus Fossae, from where it flowed in a catastrophic flood.

Ice is unstable at the surface of Mars because of the low atmospheric pressure, and sublimates away (changes straight from ice to vapour without passing through the liquid state) into the atmosphere, but some of the ice rafts appear to have been protected by layers of volcanic dust. While the entire sea froze solid, the unprotected ice between the rafts sublimated to leave 'ice plateaus' surrounded by bare rock.

The sparse cratering of this region shows that it cannot have formed more than about five million years ago, meaning this is a relatively young feature.
Submitted by: GHoosdum

Source: European Space Agency

Comments

  • madmatmadmat
    edited February 2005
    Can anyone enlighten me on a point here? How can it be considered a "catastrophic flood" when there isn't anyone or anything to be threatened by it? I know I'm nitpicking here but that term usually is used for floods where life is lost and property is damaged and life is generally made a real pain but on a planet that as far as we know is fully barren of life wouldn't it be better termed a "major flood" or a "spectacular flood" rather than a "catastrophic flood"? ;D
  • GHoosdumGHoosdum Icrontian
    edited February 2005
    Yeah, that would make more sense, wouldn't it...
  • GargGarg Purveyor of Lincoln Nightmares Icrontian
    edited February 2005
    Just shows that Europeans don't know how to properly implement the English language :usflag:

    (much love to my UK colleagues, who just happen to talk funny ;) )
  • madmatmadmat
    edited February 2005
    OOOHHH...I've got it, a "flood of galactic proportions" w00t!! :thumbsup:
  • shwaipshwaip bluffin' with my muffin Icrontian
    edited February 2005
    dictionary.com wrote:
    ca·tas·tro·phe Pronunciation Key (k-tstr-f)
    n.

    1. A great, often sudden calamity.
    2. A complete failure; a fiasco: The food was cold, the guests quarreledthe whole dinner was a catastrophe.
    3. The concluding action of a drama, especially a classical tragedy, following the climax and containing a resolution of the plot.
    4. A sudden violent change in the earth's surface; a cataclysm.

    substitute mars for earth ;)
  • madmatmadmat
    edited February 2005
    Yeah or they could've just said cataclysmic if that's what they were getting at.
  • PlanDreaM
    edited February 2005
    NAh, we europeans tend to use old weird words...i hope more come to surface from such expeditions
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