William sent in this link to https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/mars-didnt-just-oceans-had-140001878.html … which is aptly on Yahoo’s ‘entertainment’ page. We are told that during the Hesparian Period on Mars, conveniently dated 3.7 to 2.9 billion years ago, Mars suffered a heavy bombardment. The Hesparian, a period that lasted around 800 million years, is said to have resulted in major geological change on the red planet. It also involved a lot of volcanism, dumping sulphur and water on to the surface environment. What is basically a fairy tale as geologists only know what the various lander vehicles have beamed back, is fleshed out with speculation based on mainstream thinking. Rocks for analysis won’t get back prior to 2031. We are also told that liquid water might have once covered the whole planet, and not just the northern hemisphere. Mars was Neptunian. Who would have thought that? During the Hesperian the water began to lock itself underground – or was lodged in permafrost. Hence, as we know, the water is currently hiding.
When the impacts came the water was released from underground to create the pluvial landscape, shaped by water such as rivers and streams. This scenario is derived from modern missions to Mars where the hunt for water was a priority. Any earth colony, or even just a few astronauts, would require a water supply to exist. The search for water has been at the top of the list for the lander vehicles, and hence the geological investigation by the current mission vehicle. A few years ago, NASAs Viking 1 lander, visited what was ‘thought to be’ an outflow location in the Maja Valles. Observations did not fit the expected pluvial outwash deposit. The characteristics differed. Since then, efforts have been made to try and explain these observations. Firstly, it was touted to be a seashore location. Then, the geologists came up with another idea, a huge tsunami wave may have created the odd characteristics – as a result of an impact event. In an article in the journal Scientific Reports, scientists claim to have located an impact crater that may have been the tsunami vector. They have also created a computer simulation of what would have occurred if an asteroid, suitably fitted to the size of the crater, and traced the path of the tsunami wave over hundreds of miles. One is left thinking how amazing it is that catastrophic events can occur billions of years ago, but not in recent time. After all, similar, or smaller impacts, may have had an affect on Mars, and Earth, at any point in time. Why do they have to be transported to the billions of years ago? Mind you, once such models exist there is no reason why they can’t be used for more recent impact events, here on earth. It would be useful to use such a model to calculate how far the Chicxulub asteroid strike, which is known to have created a huge tsunami wave, shifted water out of the sea off the Yucatan, and pushed the wave up through central North America – where it appears to have met, or nearly met, another tsunami wave coming in the opposite direction, from the Arctic Ocean region [or whatever body of water existed in the north at that point in time]. How closely might it conform to the so called Interior Seaway, where so many remains of dinosaurs have been found, often mixed with marine fossils. That might shake up geology.