Mars is a dust-covered spot . So cold , in fact , that a global dust tempest can well cover it as has happened in thelast month . Researchers look into the blood of the dust have hear that the vast majority originates from a single location : the Medusae Fossae shaping .
The Medusae Fossae ( the canon of Medusa ) is an enormous volcanic deposit that extend for about 5,000 kilometers ( 3,100 mile ) and is get it on for its complex terrain . It go from a carve plateau full of ridge , rut , and Mesa to a liquid , softly cockle control surface slowly being eroded aside . investigator know the chemical composition of the part , which was key for their study published inNature Communications . The dust in the Martian air matches the geological formation .
“ detritus everywhere on the planet is enriched in sulfur and Cl and it has this very distinguishable sulfur - to - chlorine proportion , ” conduct generator Dr Lujendra Ojha , from John Hopkins University , enjoin in astatement .
In the last 3 billion eld , the slow fret action of winds has reduce the country of the Medusae Fossae by about 60 per centum . And yet , it stay on the largest volcanic deposit in the Solar System . The wind has taken away so much dust that the researcher estimate that if all the dust settled , it would form a global layer between 2 and 12 metre ( 6.6 and 39 infantry ) thick .
“ Mars would n’t be virtually this dust-covered if it was n’t for this one enormous deposit that is gradually eroding over time and polluting the planet , essentially , ” added co - author Professor Kevin Lewis , also at Johns Hopkins . “ It just explains , potentially , one big patch of how Mars got to its current body politic . ”
detritus plays an important function in the changes of the Martian atmospheric state . Dust absorbs more heat , leading to lower temperature at undercoat layer compared to the higher altitudes . This lead to stronger winds that can lift even more rubble from the background . This runaway mechanism can lead to the formation of spheric storms that happen about once a decade .
rubble is also elusive for ourrobotic explorerson the Red Planet . The fine gunpowder elevation by the wind can get into instruments and apart solar panels , putting missions at risk of exposure .
