Space/Science — HabitableZone

Space/Science » in reply to Alright you geologists out there.....

It's all about the bedforms....
dtb — (archived)

Gary,

Two quick points

1. In your favor, I think there's a bit of hubris with this "sea" stuff. In the press release and in the talk, they also say that this is consistent with something like a playa lake or other small, intermittent, and VERY shallow body of water. Think "Great Salt Lake" in Utah, or the Humbolt Sink, not the Gulf of Mexico.

2. But, the critical evidence are the bedforms. Apparently, there are features in there that are very diagnostic of deposition environment. They show (according to the press release) that the water had to be at least several inches deep and moving at least several inches to even a foot per second. It'd be hard to imagine how you get a damp salt flat to produce inches of water moving fast -- and over and over again, given the multiple beds.

As for how they infer those specifics given the forms in the images, that's beyond my level. Here's a link to the home page of the USGS sedimentologist they had on the panel, who has apparently litterally written the book on this stuff. In fact, they noted that they had six different outside scientists who were NOT Mars specialists review this, and Gotzinger is actually a sedimentologist himself.

Anyway, lots and lots of math that is way over my head, but you're welcome to dive in!

USGS Bedform Sedimentology Site

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