Planet Four Talk

What caused this formation?

  • renjean by renjean

    These blotchfields are different from other blotches and fans that I've encountered. What caused such fields to develop, is it through pockets of heat under the ground exploding, differential thickness of crust in the same area, a crater shower, or anything else?

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  • mschwamb by mschwamb scientist, translator

    Hi renjean,

    Those are blotches are deposits of dust and dirt. They are produced by carbon dioxide geysers on the South pole of Mars which lofts the dust on to the top of the carbon dioxide ice sheet in the summer and fall in the Southern hemisphere. If there is no wind the thought is you get blotches. If there is wind, it blows the dirt particles into a fan. You can learn more about what these features are here and here.

    Weaker ice or thinner carbon dioxide ice in this area imaged bight be why you see so many blotches.

    Cheers,

    ~Meg

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