The Death of Mars

[conradk1]

Imagine this:<br />A massive astroid strikes the southern hemisphere of Mars creating the Hellas impact basin. It pierces the planet almost reaching the other side. The fractured astroid destroys the mantle below the Tharsis Montes region, which results in the formation of 4 massive volcanoes. Displaced by the bulging crust, a vast ocean covering the Tharsis Montes region drains out of the area in a catastrophic floods.<br /><br />In an area known as Valles Marineris the internal pressure rips apart the planets crust for thousands of miles.<br /><br />The intrusion into the planets core is so disruptive it severely slows down the rotation of the core. And a planet dies. <br /><br />Conradk

 

[JonClarke]

The biggest problem with this scenario is the timing. The Hellas structure is thought to have formed ~3.5 Ga. The Tharisis volcanoes are much younger, <1.5 Ga and with volcanism continuing until very recently.<br /><br />Jon <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><em>Whether we become a multi-planet species with unlimited horizons, or are forever confined to Earth will be decided in the twenty-first century amid the vast plains, rugged canyons and lofty mountains of Mars</em>  Arthur Clarke</p> </div>

 

[3488]

AFAIK there is specutation that the Tharsis volcanoes may not be extinct,<br />just long term dormant.<br /><br />Also did someone think that Ascraeus Mons may have been last active about 50,000 years ago<br />(young crater free lava flows)?<br /><br />Andrew Brown.<br /><br /> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><font color="#000080">"I suddenly noticed an anomaly to the left of Io, just off the rim of that world. It was extremely large with respect to the overall size of Io and crescent shaped. It seemed unbelievable that something that big had not been visible before".</font> <em><strong><font color="#000000">Linda Morabito </font></strong><font color="#800000">on discovering that the Jupiter moon Io was volcanically active. Friday 9th March 1979.</font></em></p><p><font size="1" color="#000080">http://www.launchphotography.com/</font><br /><br /><font size="1" color="#000080">http://anthmartian.googlepages.com/thisislandearth</font></p><p><font size="1" color="#000080">http://web.me.com/meridianijournal</font></p> </div>