The noticeable changes in the mars landscape They are very slow. It is estimated that they may take up to millions of years to occur, as it is considered a fairly static planet in that regard. However, scientists from the European Space Agency (ESA) have detected a change that occurred much more quickly. So much so that humans of the same generation have been conscious.
From Viking to Mars Express. The High Resolution Stereoscopic Camera (HRSC) The Mars Express has taken some images that have caught the attention of the ESA scientists in charge of analyzing them. In them you can see a large area covered in ashes. These ashes already appeared in other photos taken by NASA’s Viking orbiters in 1976. However, there were much fewer of them then. It is surprising how much they have proliferated in just 50 years.
volcanic origin. The origin of these ashes is quite clear. The volcanic material is known to be rich in ‘mafic’ minerals, which form at high temperatures. Olivine and pyroxene are two good examples. These minerals have a dark appearance, very similar to the ashes that appear in the photos. Therefore, it must have a volcanic origin. In addition, Mars is characterized by having great volcanic activity and by hosting the largest volcano in the Solar System: Olympic Mons. All clues lead to the volcanic origin.
The wind spread or uncovered them. What is not so clear is how so many ashes have appeared in such a short time. ESA researchers believe it must be because of the wind. It may be that the Martian winds moved them, spreading them over a wider space, or that they uncovered them. Perhaps they were already there, but the wind moved the ocher dust characteristic of the surface of Mars that would be covering them.
Comparison of Viking (left) and Mars Express (right) images
A crater among the ashes. Something curious about the photo is that in it you can see many signs of the changes that the Martian surface has experienced over time. On the one hand, we see the aforementioned ashes. And, on the other, the 15 kilometer wide crater that appears in the photo between them.
This is surrounded by a striking ring of apparently lighter material, known as an ‘ejector blanket’. It is a structure that is formed from the material thrown by the impact that formed the crater itself. In the photo you can also see some wavy lines inside the crater that mark where the icy material known to be under Mars has been spreading.
Changes and more changes. This photograph, which in turn is located in an impact basin called Utopia Planitia, is the living image of how the Martian surface has been modified by impacts, volcanoes and ice that tries to escape between the cracks. Now, at least, we know that not all of these changes are as slow as we thought. Some occur in the blink of a spatial eye.
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