A 75-mile-wide Martian crater may be ‘ground zero’ for a MEGA-TSUNAMI that reshaped the landscape of the red planet over 3 billion years ago
- Researchers say 75-mile-wide Lomonosov Crater has signs of a marine impact
- Its broad, shallow rim suggests there was a shallow ocean where asteroid hit
- Timing and features line up with deposits in a region called Thumbprint Terrain
An asteroid impact more than three billion years ago may have spawned a ‘mega-tsunami’ on the surface of Mars well after the height of its watery past.
A new study analyzing a handful of large impact craters in the red planet’s northern plains region has identified numerous signs of a long-ago collision where an ocean likely once sat.
The resulting tsunami would have loomed hundreds of feet high and carved out much of the surrounding landscape.
Researchers have pinpointed what could be ground zero, revealing how the 75-mile-wide Lomonosov Crater may have been the site of a cataclysmic asteroid-induced wave, giving rise to the unique features of an area known as the Thumbnail Terrain.
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The team looked at craters based on diameter, location, and geomorphic characteristics that may be in line with a mega-tsunami and found the Lomonosov crater appears to fit the description. This crater is roughly 120 kilometers (75 miles) wide and has a broad, shallow rim
In the study published in the Journal of Geophysical Research Planets, a team led by researchers from the French National Centre for Scientific Research investigated 10 impact craters that sit north of a region called Arabia Terra.
It’s here that scientists suspect a tsunami played a major role in shaping the landscape, supported by unusual deposits that form the so-called Thumbprint Terrain.
After tracing the orientation of the deposits, the team says the evidence points back to Mars’ northern plains.
The team looked at craters based on diameter, location, and geomorphic characteristics that may be in line with a mega-tsunami and found the Lomonosov crater appears to fit the description.
This crater is roughly 120 kilometers (75 miles) wide and has a broad, shallow rim.
According to the researchers, this may be the result of ‘an impact into a shallow ocean as well as it subsequent erosion from the collapsing transient water cavity.’
The crater is estimated to be about 3 billion years old, as is the Thumbprint Terrain, the researchers note.
‘The likely marine formation of the Lomonosov crater, and the apparent agreement in its age with that of the Thumbprint Terrain unit (~3 Ga), strongly suggests that it was the source crater of the tsunami,’ the team writes.
A new study analyzing a handful of large impact craters in the red planet’s northern plains region has identified numerous signs of a long-ago collision where an ocean likely once sat. The resulting tsunami would carved out the landscape. Artist’s impression pictured
The findings have implications for our understanding of Mars’ history as a wet planet.
While it’s thought that the red planet was home to water, including an ocean, prior to 3.8 billion years ago, the study suggests there were still large bodies of water on the surface as recently as 3 billion years ago.
With data from current and upcoming missions to study the red planet, including ESA’s Mars Express, scientists are hoping to obtain a clearer timeline of the presence of water.
