An international team of planetary scientists from the Czech Republic, Norway, Germany, France and the UK solved the mystery of the appearance of geological structures on Mars reminiscent of a frozen lava flow. Until now experts did not know whether these unusual landforms with the outpouring of magma or by breakthrough of liquid mud. Article scientists published in the journal Nature Geoscience.
The researchers used a chamber simulating the Martian atmosphere, with low pressure and a temperature of -20 degrees Celsius to trace the flow of mud of low viscosity and high water content. It turned out that such dirt behaves differently than on earth. It quickly freezes with the formation of ice, because water at low pressure begins to boil and evaporates, carrying away heat. As a result, the mud flows similar to terrestrial lava flows of the “pahoehoe”, which are characterized by wavy folds and swellings.
The mud comes from tears in the frozen crust covering the surface of Mars, then freezes, creating a new frozen the flow of “lava”. The reason for such geological activity can be a giant flood that occurred on the red planet in ancient times. Water-rich sediments were buried under the top layer of rocks, but now they break the surface, creating the typical volcanic terrain.
According to scientists, sedimentary volcanism can occur on the dwarf planet Ceres, under the surface which is the ocean, containing large amounts of clay, ice, salts and clathrate compounds (molecules containing inclusions). In this case, Ceres “lava” terrain even more typical than for Mars, because the atmosphere is completely absent. The same mechanism probably applies to other celestial bodies in the Solar system, including the icy moons.
