The northern lowlands of Mars apparently have volcanoes that number in the tens of thousands; the apparent mud volcano has fingers and ripples that look like lava surrounding them. However, geologists are not in agreement regarding their true nature. They doubt if the bumpy formations are magma that have been frozen, and they believe that there are water reservoirs beneath them.
There are some volcanoes on our planet that spew mud instead of lava or molten rock, which made scientists speculate if the ones on Mars are also mud volcanoes. Czech Academy of Sciences geophysicist Petr Brož says that they are not, because the circumstances that make such formations, particularly in the precise burying of sediments, are very unusual. In addition, it is questionable if mud sloshes after being exposed to a frigid environment.
Brož and colleagues recreated the circumstances in the laboratory, and they published their findings in the journal Nature Geoscience. They found that mud on Mars' surface flows almost in the same manner as lava does on our planet. Their findings mean that the structures found on the red planet may be hard mud or rock.
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This complicates matters, according to Brož, because they have to use other ways to tell the differences between lava and mud beyond their shape.
Brož has scrutinized photographs of Mars for ten years and wanted to prove that these volcanic structures were made of rocks. He eventually thought of a way to do so by determining if mud can flow in the location by using UK's Open Univ. Mars Chamber, a cylinder that simulates the Martian environment.
Brož and colleagues chilled a sand bed to -20°F and put it inside the chamber. An apparatus was set up to pour water solution with fine particles over this bed.
The near-vacuum environment caused the mud to boil, which removed the heat and cooled until the mud crust was frozen. Then, the liquid interior got free and formed rivulets, which poured down like lava, cooling upon air contact.
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Lancaster University geologist Lionel Wilson, who helped in analyzing the physics part of the experiment, said that the creeping and breaking out of the materials do resemble the behavior of lave flowing from a volcano. Scientists speculate that these structures may contain ancient life on Mars.
Brož concluded that mud might not freeze, but it may smoothly flow long enough to account for the possible existence of volcanoes. Still, he says that the shapes that look like lava flowing may be different structures.
Arizona Planetary Science Institute senior scientist Dorothy Oehler says that the study will help scientists understand if the features that have been previously identified as lava may have been rocks and mud all along.
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More studies on mud could help scientists identify the behavior of Martian mud. For instance, Brož and his collaborators are preparing a publication that details strange behavior when liquid is poured on "warm" sand with a temperature of 70°F. The sand violently boiled enough to levitate for a short time.
Exploring it is almost impossible, however, as the InSight lander of NASA found. Ancient Martian mud may have ancient microbes in it; and mud volcanoes could now be the focus of scientists' search for sources of life.
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