A photo from open sources
American planetologists have confirmed the existence of a system of giant canals under the volcanic highlands of Elysius at the equator Mars resulting from the emergence of groundwater to the surface red planet, says an article in a magazine Science. “Our work showed that we underestimated the degree erosion of the surface of Mars and that the depth of the channels is approximately twice more than the early calculations showed. Apparently, the source the water in these channels served deep groundwater that could rise to the surface as a result of tectonic or volcanic activity, “said Gareth Morgan of the Smithsonian Institute in Washington (USA). Morgan and his colleagues came to this the conclusion by examining the data collected by the SHARAD radar aboard the MRO probe. This radar operates in the radio frequency range from 3 to 30 megahertz, which allows him to “shine through” the Martian bowels to a depth of several kilometers and separate them into separate layers with a thickness of a few meters. The authors of the article used SHARAD to study. the volcanic highlands of Elysius in the equatorial part of Mars, on the surface of which there are many extinct volcanoes and small deposits of water ice, covered with ash and dust. These stocks water prompted scientists to think that this area could contain much more liquid and ice in the past when the surface of Mars and its atmosphere was less “dry.” Scientists have tested this. assumption by analyzing several dozen “slices” of the cortex Mars in the region of Elysia, obtained using the MRO radar. So morgan and his colleagues discovered three channel systems at once – long trenches with a width of 20 kilometers and a depth of 50-110 meters. After analyzing the “drawing” of the channels and their structure, planetologists concluded that they arose as a result of soil erosion under the action of groundwater flows. This fact suggests that the amount of groundwater and the extent of Martian “floods” are severely underestimated, astronomers conclude.
Water mars
