Mystery Martian hills found on Mars sparking hope ‘time capsule’ mounds will solve biggest mystery from 4BILLION yrs ago
MYSTERY hills have been found on Mars sparking hopes scientists can solve the planet’s biggest mystery from billions of years ago.
The Red Planet is dotted with thousands of mounds containing billions of years worth of history including if Mars ever had water.
Over 15,000 of these mounds point outwards across an area the size of Texas on the planet’s Chryse Planitia, located north of the equator.
Scientists discovered the hills in images taken by NASA and the European Space Agency.
Analysis published in the Nature Geoscience Journal on January 20 reveals how these mounds could solve one of the biggest mysteries about the planet.
It is likely that the thousands of mounds were created by water once being on Mars, the research explains.
The team has found that the mounds are what remains of ancient highlands that were once on the planet billions of years ago, which eventually eroded away to what is there now.
This explanation that there was once water on Mars could further explain why the northern and southern hemispheres of the planet are so different.
Scientists believe this could be attributed to erosion caused by water between 3.8 and 4 billion years ago.
Planetary scientist and postdoctoral researcher at London’s Natural History Museum Dr. Joe McNeil is the lead study author.
He told CNN: “Our findings reveal that water was present both at the surface and in the subsurface of this region over geological timescales, between 4.0 (billion) and 3.8 billion years ago.
“The mounds were originally part of the highlands, composed of hundreds of metres of clay-rich rock that formed in the presence of liquid water.
“Their erosion over hundreds of kilometers shows that the highlands extended much (farther) north than they do today, providing new insights into the ancient geography and hydrology of Mars.”
It is hoped that in the near future, scientists can get closer to these mounds and conduct further examination to get more answers.
The mounds are located near the landing site of the ESA’s ExoMars Rosalind Franklin rover which is scheduled to land on the planet in 2028 where it could investigate the hills.
McNeil said: “Each mound is made up of a series of layers, each of which is a record of a past event.
“The oldest are at the bottom and are made up of rock that is around four billion years old.
“For a geologist, looking at these layers is like looking for pages of a book – each one tells a story!”
There is “incredible variety in their structure,” the scientist added noting that some are 1,800 feet tall.
He compared them to the buttes and measas found in the red-sand desert of Monument Valley on the Arizona-Utah border.
However, these Martian mounds are not only 800 feet taller, they also cover an area 2,000 times larger than the 145 square miles of Monument Valley.
McNeil explained that there is evidence that the planet once had rivers and lakes, but he hopes that further research will help scientists discover if there ever was an ocean on Mars or any life within it.
“They are a prime location for future missions aimed at uncovering whether Mars ever had an ocean and whether life could have existed there,” he told Phys.Org.