Sand on Mars maybe created due to asteroid impacts, study finds – Times Now

August 24, 2022: Sand is constantly being formed on Earth as a result of the slow erosion of rocks. On Mars, however, powerful asteroid impacts may play an essential role in the formation of fresh sand.According to a new study, up to a quarter of Martian sand is made up of spherical fragments of glass formed under the tremendous heat of impacts. Because windblown sand sculpts the Martian landscape, this finding illustrates how asteroid impacts shape Mars even after the collisions occur, according to Purdue University planetary scientist Briony Horgan and colleagues. The researchers will discuss its findings on August 18 at the Meteoritical Society's 85th Annual Meeting in Glasgow, Scotland.

Horgan and colleagues examined different wavelengths of visible and infrared light reflected from the planet's surface employing data acquired by satellites circling Mars to identify the minerals found in Martian sand. The team discovered glass signals all around the world, especially at higher latitudes.

Volcanic eruptions, which are known to create glass when magma blends with water, is a reasoning for all that glass. However, the researchers point out that the most glass-rich region of Mars the planet's northern plains is devoid of volcanoes. This eliminates volcanic eruptions as the cause in that location, implying that considerably more apocalyptic occurrences asteroid strikes may be at work.

When an asteroid traveling at several kilometers per second collides with a rocky planet like Mars, the energy released melts adjacent rocks and sends them into space. This molten shrapnel fractures into sand grain-sized, approximately spherical pieces. These shards of glass, known as impact spherules, ultimately fall back to Mars.

Asteroid impacts could have covered the surface of Mars in a coating of impact spherules nearly half a meter deep over the previous 3 billion years, according to Horgan and her colleagues. All of the stuff was added to the sand on Mars created by natural erosion. Horgan believes, impacts helped supply sand to the surface continuously over time.

This article is written by Diya Mukherjee

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Sand on Mars maybe created due to asteroid impacts, study finds - Times Now