Solving the Mystery of Mars
Science may be a step closer to understanding the red planet.
Aug 24, 2009
By DBIS
Inside Science News Service
Science Insider
WALKING ROCKS: Rocks on an area of Mars were found in strangely orderly patterns. Scientists found that the rocks moved into these patterns by rolling into the wind. When the wind blows, it picks up sand in front of the rocks and pulls it away, leaving a small cavity. As the wind continues to blow, it pulls enough sand from under the rock that it rolls forward into the hole due to gravity. As the rocks move, they can block the wind from other rocks, which leaves wind rushing past the side of a rock, where it can create a hole and cause a rock to migrate laterally, helping to form a regular pattern that is repeated around Mars.
WIND ON EARTH: Wind is a form of solar energy, caused by the uneven warming of the earth's surface. This is why air masses have different temperatures and pressures, and are constantly moving to find a balance. The higher the difference in pressure, the swifter the air moves and the stronger the wind. Mankind has used wind energy for thousands of years, using it to pump water, grind flour, press olives, and even to explore the world in wind-driven sailing ships.
 "Photo: USGS.gov, License: http://usasearch.gov/search?v%3aproject=firstgov-images&v%3afile=viv_1125%4030%3akqNW5g&v%3aframe=vi")
It has mountains, canals and deserts, yet we know that Mars is as much unlike our earth as it is similar. Now, science may be a step closer to understanding the red planet. New secrets are revealed about the planet's surface that may help us better understand Mars itself.
From silly to serious, the mysteries of mars make us wonder: What's really going on up there? For Jon Pelletier, Ph.D., a geomorphologist at the University of Arizona, it was Martian rocks that sparked his curiosity.
"When the Martian rovers were first taking their pictures and they were coming back down to earth, we saw these ordered configurations of stones," Dr. Pelletier told Ivanhoe.
Scientists once thought extreme windstorms picked up the stones or pushed them, but it may actually be just the opposite.
"We found that the stone actually rolls into the wind, which is certainly not something we first expected," Pelletier explained.
When winds blow around a stone, sand is deposited behind it and taken away on the other side, a process that repeats itself again and again.
"That change in the local slope causes, over time, the stones to migrate or move into the void that is formed by the erosion of the sand." Pelletier described.
Over time, clusters of stones move and eventually settle into more ordered patterns -- patterns we now see on the Martian surface.
We're far from answering all our questions about Mars, but with every discovery, science is one step closer to solving the mystery.
Not only did Dr. Pelletier's research solve a mystery about Mars, he also helped answer some questions about our own planet. It turns out the same process that moves rocks around on Mars is changing the surface of the deserts here on Earth.
