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Published online 20 June 2008 | Nature 453, 1153 (2008) | doi:10.1038/4531153a
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When water gushed on Mars
Could crevasses in the ice have been caused by a recent volcanic eruption?
Were the northern plains of Mars submerged in a vast flood as recently as 20,000 years ago? Geologists claim to have found evidence of a recent volcanic eruption under the ice cap that could have created a wall of water 200 metres high and 35 kilometres wide.
Signs of volcanic activity and flowing meltwater have been found before, but the new study links the two together with strong geological evidence, bolstering theories that water was the chief sculptor of the huge chasms in the northern martian ice cap.
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"Fishbaugh, on the other hand, doesn’t think that the chasm could have been eroded that quickly..." A wall of water 200m high and 35km wide could cause tremendous erosion in just a few hours. See http://preview.tinyurl.com/18r