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Mars Carbonate Catastrophe
The Mars carbonate catastrophe was an event that happened on Mars in its early history. Evidence shows Mars was once warmer and wet about 4 billion years ago, that is about 560 million years after the formation of Mars. Mars quickly, over a 1 to 12 million year time span, lost its water, becoming cold and very dry. Factors in Mars losing its water and most of its atmosphere are the carbonate catastrophe, loss of the planet's magnetic field and Mars's low gravity. Mars's low gravity and loss of a magnetic field allowed the Sun's solar wind to strip away most of Mars's atmosphere and water into outer space. Carbonate catastrophe Water, H2O, is very abundant in the universe, so when Mars formed during the formation of the Solar System it had water. The water on early Mars reacted with atmospheric carbon dioxide. This reaction formed carbonic acid which became part of the water cycle on Mars. The carbonic acid rain produced carbonates on the planet. The carbonates removed (leached) ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mars - August 30 2021 - Flickr - Kevin M
Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun. It is also known as the "Red Planet", because of Mars surface color, its orange-red appearance. Mars is a desert-like rocky planet with a tenuous carbon dioxide () Atmosphere of Mars, atmosphere. At the average surface level the atmospheric pressure is a few thousandths of Earth's, atmospheric temperature ranges from and cosmic radiation is high. Mars retains some water, Groundwater on Mars, in the ground as well as thinly in the atmosphere, forming cirrus clouds, frost, larger polar regions of permafrost and Martian polar ice caps, ice caps (with seasonal snow), but no liquid surface water. Its surface gravity is roughly a third of Earth's or double that of the Moon. It is half List of Solar System objects by size, as wide as Earth or twice the Moon, with a diameter of , and has a surface area the size of all the dry land of Earth. Martian regolith#Atmospheric dust, Fine dust is prevalent across the surface and the atmosphere, bein ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
