Surging groundwater:


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Rain early in Mars's history set up a pattern of flowing groundwater beneath the entire planet (top). Because the slope of Meridiani Planum flattens out from a steeper slant, the groundwater slowed down and backed up, reaching the surface (middle). The water then evaporated, leaving behind the thick deposits [thought to be 200 and 800 metres thick] observed by the Opportunity rover (bottom).
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- Surging groundwater solves Martian 'evaporite' mystery

That's very cool. Thank you for posting the graphic.

Would that have made a structure such as Anastasia (if it existed back then) the equivalent of a Floridian blue water spring?

-Mike

I would hardly say it's solved. It certainly is an appealing explanation. But it is a model that doesn't have much to back it up. We know there are evaporite layers and the model says that ground water flow could have done this. But the evidence for actual ground water flow is few. Many other hypotheses still fit the current evidence.

ed

Enlightening paper snippet.. It seems to solve the slope problem without relying on subsidence of the whole Meridiani, and so by principle there should be ubiquitous analogs to this same process on Earth, however, none are referenced in the paper snippet. Any geologists familiar with this process reading this thread care to chime in?

This was, by the way, mentioned in New Scientist.
http://space.newscientist.com/article/dn11...p;nsref=dn11332

I believe the real deal is in Nature.