Huge glaciers detected under rocky debris on Mars

Southpaw · November 21st, 2008, 07:39 AM

But the Universe is only 5000 years old. How can this be?

http://www.reuters.com/article/scien...081120?sp=true

Quote:

Huge glaciers detected under rocky debris on Mars
Thu Nov 20, 2008 5:51pm EST

By Will Dunham

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A radar instrument aboard a NASA spacecraft has detected large glaciers hidden under rocky debris that may be the vestiges of ice sheets that blanketed parts of Mars in a past ice age, scientists said on Thursday.

The glaciers, the biggest known deposits of water on Mars outside of its poles, could prove useful for future manned missions to the red planet as drinking water or rocket fuel, University of Texas planetary geologist John Holt said.

"If we were to, down the road, establish a base there, you'd want to park near a big source of water because you can do anything with it," Holt said.

The glaciers, perhaps 200 million years old, also may entomb genetic fragments of past microbial life on Mars as well as air bubbles that might reveal the composition of the atmosphere as it was long ago, according to geologist James Head of Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island.

A ground-penetrating radar instrument aboard the U.S. space agency's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter collected the data that confirmed the presence of the buried glaciers that extend for dozens of miles (km) from the edges of mountains or cliffs.

These closely resemble glaciers in Antarctica that similarly are covered by rocky debris, Head said.

Scientists previously determined that large deposits of ice exist at the Martian north and south polar regions, but hundreds of these buried glaciers are located at mid-latitudes on the planet.

Head said they can be about half a mile thick. One of them was three times larger than the city of Los Angeles.

The ones described by the researchers in the journal Science were in the Hellas Basin region of the Martian southern hemisphere, but many more are in the northern hemisphere.

Holt said the glaciers may be the vestiges of large ice sheets that once covered parts of Mars in a past ice age. Earth's most recent ice age ended about 12,000 years ago.

"It's dramatic evidence of major climate change on Mars, presumably linked to orbital variations. That's what causes the major glaciations on Earth," Holt said.

The existence of these features -- rounded surfaces sloping gently away from steeper ridges -- has been known for decades but their nature was a matter of dispute. Some scientists had argued they were ice-filled rock piles and not glaciers.

But the radar echoes received by the spacecraft indicated that a thin coating of rocky material at the surface covered thick ice and not rock.

Scientists want to understand the history of water on Mars because water is fundamental to the question of whether the planet has ever harbored microbial or some other life. Liquid water is a necessity for life as we know it. While Mars is now arid and dusty, there is evidence it once was much wetter.

For example, scientists think that long, undulating features seen on the northern plains of Mars may be remnants of shorelines of an ocean that covered a third of the planet's surface at least 2 billion years ago.

The Phoenix Mars Lander, which touched down at the north pole of Mars in May, found definitive proof of water before ending its mission earlier this month.

Louis · November 21st, 2008, 08:28 AM

Test of faith.

Either that or on the day after He rested...

justAndy · November 21st, 2008, 10:51 AM

I have a coworker that is a biblical literalist, but he admits to having "a problem" - he acknowledges the speed of light and the size of the observable universe, but admits that it would be odd for God to have somehow accomplished creation with light ALREADY on its' way to Earth from distant cosmological objects.
I asked about the "4 pillars" that the Earth rests on and he admits that THAT is not "literal" - wow! - the mental gymnastics that biblical literalists have to go through!

Pariah · November 21st, 2008, 10:52 AM

That's really cool!

Absolute Zero · November 21st, 2008, 01:23 PM

People of faith really should stop feeling threatened by scientific discoveries which really show just how awesome God's creation really is. No need to try to read the Bible as a science book. Its not.

azmike74 · November 21st, 2008, 02:38 PM

I was speaking with a physicist about this and asked the question "With all the evidence of the age of Earth and other planets, how will this effect religious beliefs?"

His answer was that the Catholic church has already acknowledged that there may be life elsewhere in the universe and that "religions adapt like anything else or else they may fade away".

He also was sure that evidence of life on other planets would be discovered within 10 years based on the discoveries they were making today.

If there is a God, I don't think we really have a good idea of what It is all about yet. I am not a believer at this time, I am an agnostic who is leaning towards Atheist. I love the show Ghost Hunters and to be honest, that show keeps me guessing about if there is or is not a God.

Sorry if I got too far off topic.

HeavyB3 · November 21st, 2008, 04:35 PM

200 million year old glaciers? Can't have that. Someone release CO2 into the atmosphere on Mars!!!

Kolo · November 21st, 2008, 04:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by wallyburger

But the Universe is only 5000 years old. How can this be?

http://www.reuters.com/article/scien...081120?sp=true

Employing glaciers on Mars to scorn Creationism. Nice work.

nidan · November 21st, 2008, 10:49 PM

Doesn't take much to scorn it really.

Form where I sit its a pretty silly idea when takenliterally

Kolo · November 22nd, 2008, 03:37 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by nidan

Doesn't take much to scorn it really.

Form where I sit its a pretty silly idea when takenliterally

I once was taught in Sunday School that Jesus and Adam and the rest mashed huge chunks of other existing, formerly populated planets together to create Earth, which is how we have dinosaur fossils and Lucy the Ethiopian and million year old rocks and etc... even though the Earth was "formed" in 4,000 B.C. And those homo erectus and T Rex and other fossils were left in the ground to test our faith.

I have to give them at least some credit for creativity.

nidan · November 22nd, 2008, 08:58 AM

Very true.

Though I had to suffer under the whips and forced labor camps that the British school system cheerfully called 'Divinity' classes, essentially CoE attempted brainwashing.

Even they never tried to sell me on Creationism.

D-Dogg · November 22nd, 2008, 09:38 AM

I think it's a sad statement that this really awesome scientific discovery is more interesting to some as a way to make comments on religion.

nidan · November 22nd, 2008, 01:02 PM

True, sorry

RugbyMuffin · November 24th, 2008, 02:58 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Donald

I think it's a sad statement that this really awesome scientific discovery is more interesting to some as a way to make comments on religion.

Agreed.

Southpaw · November 24th, 2008, 03:41 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kolo

Employing glaciers on Mars to scorn Creationism. Nice work.

Employing creationism on society while ignoring scientific evidence. Nice work.

Ain't it just wrong that non believers are required to behave better than creationists when it comes to discussion of religion?