Our dating assumptions on the Red Planet may need to be reviewed.
Fresh analysis of the crater above Mars It suggests that the asteroid has been hitting the surface at a constant velocity for at least 600 million years.
Scientists often use craters as a proxy for figuring out how old the surface of a planet is. This is because the more collisions you have, the more time it takes to occur. However, the analysis of crater formation is a complex process and can rely on assumptions about its number. asteroid How many space rocks are there in the area around the planet, burning out in the atmosphere?
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In a new study, a team of scientists used a new crater detection algorithm to examine 521 impact craters on Mars over 12 miles (20 km) in diameter. According to a new study, only 49 craters have formed in the last 600 million years in the collection, and these have been generated at a constant rate.
This new study is inconsistent with previous studies suggesting that the number of craters has “rapped” in the short period of the last 600 million years, said the lead researcher, a researcher and planetary scientist at Curtin University in Australia. Anthony Lagain said: statement.. Scientists presenting this theory believed that the shock spikes were caused by the splitting of large asteroids, sending clusters of fragments that collided with the surface of Mars.
“When large objects collide with each other, they break into debris and debris, which is thought to affect the creation of impact craters,” Lagain said. “Our research shows that debris is unlikely to have caused any changes in the formation of impact craters on the surface of the planet.”
Certain times on Mars, which may need to be reviewed, are the so-called “Ordovician spikes” that occurred about 470 million years ago. According to new research, the surge on Mars is instead “[crater] Conservation bias, not the actual increase in asteroid collision flux, “the author writes.
For future research, the authors want to investigate further when (if any) spikes can occur in the Moon, another large rock body in our neighborhood. , There is no substantial atmosphere.
A study Based on the research, it was published in the February 1st edition of the Earth and Planetary Science Letter.
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