Space/Science — HabitableZone

Space/Science » in reply to I disagree for 4 reasons.

re: I disagree for 4 reasons.

Thanks for being civil.

"Sorry, but I am still not buying the tektites theory for four reasons;

1. They are all roughly the same size. Tektites vary in size."

Mars's atmosphere will not vary much from location to location, and that is the key for Martian tektite formation.

"2. They are all chemically the same. Tektites vary chemically, depending on what parent material the impactor melted."

We have a very limited sample, and these are all from the same deposit.

"3. They are all spherical, Tektites come in all shapes- spherical, teardrop, egg shape, etc. The larger they are, the less spherical they usually are."

While this is true for the Earth, one must remember that Mars' gravity and atmosphere differ gretly from those of planet Earth.

The sphericity is the key. There were no gas bubbles on Mars for minerals to accrete out of solution in - there has not been any volcanism on Mars for a long long time. Mars' core grew cold a long time ago.

There is no other spherical formation mechanism, other than atmospheric precipitation.

"4. They are evenly distributed throughout the layers. Tektites are usually confined to one layer."

There've been a lot of impacts on Mars. The spherules are also seen elsewhere on Mars, and this is another key piece of this puzzle.

ep

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