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Mars Gullies Likely Formed By Underground Aquifers
By Leonard David
Senior Space Writer
posted: 12 November 2004
08:00 am ET
A study team is analyzing images of gullies captured by the Mars Global Surveyor’s (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera, adding in laser altimeter and spectrometer data taken by the same spacecraft. They believe the gullies are the products of shallow and deep aquifers in Mars' subsurface.
Aquifers are defined as an underground geological formation or group of formations that contain water -- a source of ground water for wells and springs.
If these pockets of water are indeed subsurface on Mars, they could act as a "user friendly" habitat for Martian microbes. Furthermore, these underground niches could be tapped by future Mars expeditionary crews armed with drilling gear to reach the reservoirs of water.
(......)
No model yet proposed explains all observed gully features, the scientists note. However, their data points them toward gully creation due to subsurface water. Carbon dioxide, melting ground ice, dry landslide, and snowmelt models, they explain, "inadequately conform to the MGS observations and are the least likely mechanisms of gully formation proposed to date."
"Although some discrepancies still exist between prediction and observation, the shallow and deep aquifer models remain as the most plausible theories," Heldmann and Mellon report.
The research duo notes that future Mars orbital cameras -- such as the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) aboard NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) in 2005 -- will be very valuable for determining the ultimate mechanism(s) of formation for the gullies.
Ground penetrating radar carried by Europe’s Mars Express now in orbit around the red planet and onboard MRO to be launched next year will also help in the ongoing detective work concerning the gullies.
"With persistent study and the analysis of additional data, we are beginning to unravel the mystery of the Martian gully systems," the researchers conclude.
Mars Gullies Likely Formed By Underground Aquifers
By Leonard David
Senior Space Writer
posted: 12 November 2004
08:00 am ET
A study team is analyzing images of gullies captured by the Mars Global Surveyor’s (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera, adding in laser altimeter and spectrometer data taken by the same spacecraft. They believe the gullies are the products of shallow and deep aquifers in Mars' subsurface.
Aquifers are defined as an underground geological formation or group of formations that contain water -- a source of ground water for wells and springs.
If these pockets of water are indeed subsurface on Mars, they could act as a "user friendly" habitat for Martian microbes. Furthermore, these underground niches could be tapped by future Mars expeditionary crews armed with drilling gear to reach the reservoirs of water.
(......)
No model yet proposed explains all observed gully features, the scientists note. However, their data points them toward gully creation due to subsurface water. Carbon dioxide, melting ground ice, dry landslide, and snowmelt models, they explain, "inadequately conform to the MGS observations and are the least likely mechanisms of gully formation proposed to date."
"Although some discrepancies still exist between prediction and observation, the shallow and deep aquifer models remain as the most plausible theories," Heldmann and Mellon report.
The research duo notes that future Mars orbital cameras -- such as the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) aboard NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) in 2005 -- will be very valuable for determining the ultimate mechanism(s) of formation for the gullies.
Ground penetrating radar carried by Europe’s Mars Express now in orbit around the red planet and onboard MRO to be launched next year will also help in the ongoing detective work concerning the gullies.
"With persistent study and the analysis of additional data, we are beginning to unravel the mystery of the Martian gully systems," the researchers conclude.
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