Image Detail 5: Fracture structures of glacial ice in Deuteronilus Mensae
Image Detail 5: Fracture structures of glacial ice in Deuteronilus Mensae
The glacial structures in Deuteronilus Mensae have led some scientists to assume the existence of glaciers here in geologically recent times – between 100,000 and 10,000 years ago. Large-area glaciations are likely to have occurred in ice ages similar to those on Earth, even at mid-latitudes. Ice may still be present today below the rocks and the boulders that covered the slowly flowing glaciers. Observations made with the Shallow Radar (SHARAD) instrument on NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter seem to confirm this theory.
