Citizen Scientists Help Map Ridge Networks on Mars That May Hold Records of Ancient Groundwater
upstart writes:
Unusual ridge networks on Mars may provide clues about the history of the Red Planet:
Scientists have uncovered strange ridge networks on using images from spacecraft orbiting the Red Planet over the previous two decades. How and why the ridges formed, as well as what clues they may reveal about the history of Mars have remained unknown.
[...] How the ridge networks were formed on Mars has remained a mystery ever since they were discovered in orbital imagery. Scientists have determined that there are three stages that were involved to create the ridges, including polygonal fracture formation, fracture filling, and finally erosion, which revealed the ridge networks.
[...] Ultimately, with the help of the citizen scientists, the team was able to map the distribution of 952 polygonal ridge networks in an area that measures about a fifth of Mars' total surface area.
"Citizen scientists played an integral role in this research because these features are essentially patterns at the surface, so almost anyone with a computer and internet can help identify these patterns using images of Mars," Khuller said.
[...] This discovery helps scientists "trace" the footprints of groundwater running through the ancient Martian surface and determine where it was suitable, during that time 4 billion years ago, for liquid water to be flowing near the surface.
"We hope to eventually map the entire planet with the help of citizen scientists," Khuller said. "If we are lucky, the Mars 2020 Perseverance rover might be able to confirm these findings, but the nearest set of ridges is a few kilometers away, so they might only be visited on a potential extended mission."
Journal Reference:
Aditya R. Khuller, Laura Kerber, Megan E. Schwam, et al., Irregular polygonal ridge networks in ancient Noachian terrain on Mars, Icarus, 2022
DOI: 10.1016/j.icarus.2021.114833
Keep an eye on the project page for when they continue their work. Does anyone volunteer in these kind of projects or have recommendations where else the budding citizen scientist can help out?
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