The team's idea isn't new. Scientists have looked at oddly-shaped channels, including the Abalos area, before as a place where volcanoes clashing with ice may have caused liquid water -- and perhaps even life -- to coalesce. One of those researchers, Jack Farmer of Arizona State University, believes water had nothing to do with the formation of the Abalos channels: He thinks they were scoured by wind. "I've been talking about this since 1999 or 2000, saying this eruption environment would be a great type of place to look for life," he said. "But we studied this area and simply have not found any compelling evidence for aqueous channeling there." Farmer and colleague Nick Warner estimate that on Mars, polar winds could blow at up to 45 miles per hour. A gale like that could easily have carved the Abalos channels. Wind scouring could have also dug up the mesa-like features Hovius thinks indicate recent volcanic eruptions. Instead of 20,000 years, Warner and Farmer think the eruptions are far more ancient, between hundreds of thousands to millions of years old. "This is a very important controversy," Farmer said. "We want to pick a site where we can one day send a life detection mission to Mars. But right now where we've been looking in the northern ice cap, we haven't seen anything convincing." Related Links: |
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