• Plate Tectonics On Mars
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[img]http://images.spaceref.com/news/2012/ooMars_Plate_Tectonics.jpg[/img] For years, many scientists had thought that plate tectonics existed nowhere in our solar system but on Earth. Now, a UCLA scientist has discovered that the geological phenomenon, which involves the movement of huge crustal plates beneath a planet's surface, also exists on Mars. "Mars is at a primitive stage of plate tectonics. It gives us a glimpse of how the early Earth may have looked and may help us understand how plate tectonics began on Earth," said An Yin, a UCLA professor of Earth and space sciences and the sole author of the new research. Yin made the discovery during his analysis of satellite images from a NASA spacecraft known as THEMIS (Time History of Events and Macroscale Interactions during Substorms) and from the HIRISE (High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment) camera on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. He analyzed about 100 satellite images -- approximately a dozen were revealing of plate tectonics. Yin has conducted geologic research in the Himalayas and Tibet, where two of the Earth's seven major plates divide. "When I studied the satellite images from Mars, many of the features looked very much like fault systems I have seen in the Himalayas and Tibet, and in California as well, including the geomorphology," said Yin, a planetary geologist. For example, he saw a very smooth, flat side of a canyon wall, which can be generated only by a fault, and a steep cliff, comparable to cliffs in California's Death Valley, which also are generated by a fault. Mars has a linear volcanic zone, which Yin said is a typical product of plate tectonics. "You don't see these features anywhere else on other planets in our solar system, other than Earth and Mars," said Yin, whose research is featured as the cover story in the August issue of the journal Lithosphere. The surface of Mars contains the longest and deepest system of canyons in our solar system, known as Valles Marineris (Latin for Mariner Valleys and named for the Mariner 9 Mars orbiter of 1971, which discovered it). It is nearly 2,500 miles long -- about nine times longer than the Earth's Grand Canyon. Scientists have wondered for four decades how it formed. Was it a big crack in Mars' shell that opened up? "In the beginning, I did not expect plate tectonics, but the more I studied it, the more I realized Mars is so different from what other scientists anticipated," Yin said. "I saw that the idea that it is just a big crack that opened up is incorrect. It is really a plate boundary, with horizontal motion. That is kind of shocking, but the evidence is quite clear. "The shell is broken and is moving horizontally over a long distance. It is very similar to the Earth's Dead Sea fault system, which has also opened up and is moving horizontally." The two plates divided by Mars' Valles Marineris have moved approximately 93 miles horizontally relative to each other, Yin said. California's San Andreas Fault, which is over the intersection of two plates, has moved about twice as much -- but the Earth is about twice the size of Mars, so Yin said they are comparable. Yin, whose research is partly funded by the National Science Foundation, calls the two plates on Mars the Valles Marineris North and the Valles Marineris South. "Earth has a very broken 'egg shell,' so its surface has many plates; Mars' is slightly broken and may be on the way to becoming very broken, except its pace is very slow due to its small size and, thus, less thermal energy to drive it," Yin said. "This may be the reason Mars has fewer plates than on Earth." Mars has landslides, and Yin said a fault is shifting the landslides, moving them from their source. Does Yin think there are Mars-quakes? "I think so," he said. "I think the fault is probably still active, but not every day. It wakes up every once in a while, over a very long duration -- perhaps every million years or more." Yin is very confident in his findings, but mysteries remain, he said, including how far beneath the surface the plates are located. "I don't quite understand why the plates are moving with such a large magnitude or what the rate of movement is; maybe Mars has a different form of plate tectonics," Yin said. "The rate is much slower than on Earth." The Earth has a broken shell with seven major plates; pieces of the shell move, and one plate may move over another. Yin is doubtful that Mars has more than two plates. "We have been able to identify only the two plates," he said. "For the other areas on Mars, I think the chances are very, very small. I don't see any other major crack." Did the movement of Valles Marineris North and Valles Marineris South create the enormous canyons on Mars? What led to the creation of plate tectonics on Earth? Yin, who will continue to study plate tectonics on Mars, will answer those questions in a follow-up paper that he also plans to publish in the journal Lithosphere. [B]Source - [url]http://www.marstoday.com/news/viewpr.rss.html?pid=38120[/url][/B]
science! this is amazing.
I'm curious, why did they think only Earth had tectonic plates? I just assumed that every planet had them.
[QUOTE=Guitarplayer213;37163407]I'm curious, why did they think only Earth had tectonic plates? I just assumed that every planet had them.[/QUOTE] I don't think they assumed only Earth had plates, just that no other planet has actual plate tectonics, or movement.
We'd never had evidence of modern plate tectonics on other planets mainly because of how difficult it is to observe. But this is pretty badass.
Mars could probably support life if it had an active core and a magnetic field.
[quote]Does Yin think there are Mars-quakes?[/quote] I think if we're ever going to colonize other planets we're gonna need a new name for this phenomenon. Just imagine trying to yell out "oh my god, it's a kepler-22b-quake!!"
[QUOTE=Nurtzi;37164047]I think if we're ever going to colonize other planets we're gonna need a new name for this phenomenon. Just imagine trying to yell out "oh my god, it's a kepler-22b-quake!!"[/QUOTE] I'm sure people would just go oh no an earthquake regardless of planet once we start getting past all the crap jokes.
or, you know, a tremor or just simply a quake
[QUOTE=Guitarplayer213;37163407]I'm curious, why did they think only Earth had tectonic plates? I just assumed that every planet had them.[/QUOTE] I expect they thought that Mars wasn't geologically active enough. Compared to earth, it's pretty dead.
moonquakes
[QUOTE=Guitarplayer213;37163407]I'm curious, why did they think only Earth had tectonic plates? I just assumed that every planet had them.[/QUOTE] Probably because below the surface on the moon it's just solid rock for quite a bit, whereas Earth and Mars have liquid cores. I guess they assumed it from their previous missions to the moon.
[QUOTE=Hizan;37164403]Probably because below the surface on the moon it's just solid rock for quite a bit, whereas Earth and Mars have liquid cores. I guess they assumed it from their previous missions to the moon.[/QUOTE] From what we know, Mars does actually not have a liquid core. I'm not sure what these plate tectonics has to say for that theory though.
I wonder, what if Mars is like an early earth, and it hasn't blossomed into life yet?
[QUOTE=Ereunity;37164475]I wonder, what if Mars is like an early earth, and it hasn't blossomed into life yet?[/QUOTE] Or the opposite, what if Mars was like Earth.
[QUOTE=Ereunity;37164475]I wonder, what if Mars is like an early earth, and it hasn't blossomed into life yet?[/QUOTE] No, Mars is outside of the threshold for life; It's core isn't creating a Magnetosphere, which means the atmosphere has been blown away (the pressure at even the lowest point is nothing compared to sea level on earth, [url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atmosphere_of_Mars]Source[/url]). Since there is no real atmosphere, liquid water is gone from the surface, which is afawk required for life.
[url]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panspermia[/url] Unless you think about this a little bit. We don't really know enough about Mars yet to know if it's old or still trying to come to life, or if it has well past that stage quite quickly. Who knows. We don't yet.
[QUOTE=Ereunity;37164475]I wonder, what if Mars is like an early earth, and it hasn't blossomed into life yet?[/QUOTE] If I recall correctly Mars is closer to an aborted fetus. There was some chance in the beginning, but the planet went inactive before anything major could happen, eradicating all future chances of life due to the lack of atmosphere, liquid water, magnetosphere and vulcanism in general. But if we're very lucky some meteoroid splashed some amino acids into the water when Mars still had it and we can find some simple microorganisms in the polar ice caps. I meant, if the radiation hasn't fried everything beyond recognition.
[QUOTE=Nurtzi;37164047]I think if we're ever going to colonize other planets we're gonna need a new name for this phenomenon. Just imagine trying to yell out "oh my god, it's a kepler-22b-quake!!"[/QUOTE] Plate quake?
Hehe, one day it'll become politically correct to call them tremors or quakes, not earthquakes because that would imply earth centrism...just you wait, in a few hundred years or something this post will be posted on reddit2200.com and they will just fucking laugh about how right i was. :|
[QUOTE=Nurtzi;37164047]I think if we're ever going to colonize other planets we're gonna need a new name for this phenomenon. Just imagine trying to yell out "oh my god, it's a kepler-22b-quake!!"[/QUOTE] Earth is actually an acceptable name for soil, so an earthquake on Mars is still an earthquake, just not in the sense of an Earth-quake.
I thought Io had extremely active plate tectonics?
[QUOTE=Ereunity;37164475]I wonder, what if Mars is like an early earth, and it hasn't blossomed into life yet?[/QUOTE] Planets cool down over time, and because of they get less geologically active. I'm imagining Mars is what Earth could potentially be like in a few billion years
That interesting that activity only sparesly shows up from time to time, this probably means that its tectonics is in its death throws
Maybe these plates could give us an idea of how our planet was during it's primitive stages, seeing how they say that these plates are in a primitive stage. that would be awesome
What we do is land two surveyor landers on either side of the valley then use onboard instruments and satellites to calculate any plate shift like we do on earth. Call up JPL.
[QUOTE=Liem;37167363]Maybe these plates could give us an idea of how our planet was during it's primitive stages, seeing how they say that these plates are in a primitive stage. that would be awesome[/QUOTE] I think they meant primitive as in they're much more simple than the system here on Earth, not that they're in an early stage of development. Mars has been cooling down of billions of years and is now way too inactive to be developing plate tectonics
[QUOTE=W0w00t;37164288]moonquakes[/QUOTE] Uranusquakes!
[QUOTE=IliekBoxes;37168139]Uranusquakes![/QUOTE] No it doesn't!
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