Abstract
Recent attention has been put into recurring slope lineae (RSL), after the discovery that water is present in them. It is assumed that RSL are due to flowing water. However, even though that might be the case, the general characteristics of RSL as well as their seasonal and spatial distribution in Mars, and their occurrence within craters, suggest that RSL correspond to the weathering of frozen aquifers, which coincides with slope stability processes occurring in impact craters and scree slopes from Earth. In this study, we associated RSL with similar weathering processes occurring on impact craters and hydrogeological processes occurring on Earth (including ice, water, and wind erosion and natural aquifer recharge processes). We were able to create a conceptual model on how RSL develop, why are they found mostly in mid latitudes around craters, why are they present in more frequency in one side of crates in high latitudes, and why are there more RSL in the Martian southern hemisphere. Considering the whole hydrogeological processes occurring in craters that experience RSL, we were able to predict where large quantities of liquid water are most likely to be present in the red planet.
Highlights
Mankind has been exploring our solar system with the hope of finding suitable conditions for life, as well as useful natural resources, among many other things
Even though that might be the case, the general characteristics of recurring slope lineae (RSL) as well as their seasonal and spatial distribution in Mars, and their occurrence within craters, suggest that RSL correspond to the weathering of frozen aquifers, which coincides with slope stability processes occurring in impact craters and scree slopes from Earth
We associated RSL with similar weathering processes occurring on impact craters and hydrogeological processes occurring on Earth
Summary
Mankind has been exploring our solar system with the hope of finding suitable conditions for life, as well as useful natural resources, among many other things. Extra attention has gained the red planet after the recent discovery of hydrated salts in recurring slope lineae (RSL), an evidence that suggest the presence of liquid water flowing over the Martian surface [1]-[8]. Liquid water in Mars would help sustain life forms [9]; the vital element is crucial for future human expeditions to our neighboring planet. Mars’s current surface topography, characterized by the presence of countless rills, gullies, and channels, is a clear indication of some types of fluid (most likely water) eroding the surface of the planet, a condition that occurred billions of years ago [12] [13]. Based on water-derived erosion formations in tectonic faults, Treiman [14] suggested that liquid groundwater near the Martian surface was present about 3500 - 1800 Myr ago. Williams et al [13] developed a model that provided a simple explanation for the latitudinal distribution of Martian gullies, suggesting that the gullies were formed when water migrated away from the present poles to the mid-latitudes
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