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Born out of Hell
Nov 25, 2008
Scientists theorize that sulfurous compounds from ancient
volcanoes helped warm up Mars and form the now extinct Martian
oceans. Could electricity be a better explanation?
Speculations
about the existence of liquid oceans on Mars have existed
for centuries. Images from orbiting cameras supposedly
confirmed that water once flowed on the surface of the now
frozen and barren planet so the Mars Expeditionary Rovers A
and B were sent for a close up look at the evidence.
So far, after
several years of traveling the Martian wasteland, no
confirmation either way has been forthcoming. Some
discoveries, such as the presence of
olivine deposits on the surface, seem to
preclude the existence of water on Mars since olivine is
readily dissolved and dispersed in water. Any large deposits
would have been washed away eons ago if there had been large
quantities of liquid.
Contrary
theories have been presented that ignore specific
mineralogical objections in favor of a larger view.
Scientists from the
University of California at Berkeley recently suggested
one of the more interesting “confirmations” for the liquid
ocean hypothesis. Although the oceans have been gone for
over 2 billion years, their analysis of Martian topography
seems to indicate that two “shorelines” extending for
thousands of kilometers have been overlooked in past
analyses of satellite imagery.
As their theory
states, crustal folds have obscured the true shape of the
fossil coastline as the planet deformed during a change in
its spin direction in the past. Due to some kind of
imbalance in the mass distribution inside Mars the planet
tilted over by at least 50 degrees on its rotational axis
and caused distortions in the crust. Changes in thermal
balance and increased exposure to the solar wind caused a
lot of the water that once occupied the changing ocean
basins to be lost. However, one-fifth of the Martian surface
was once covered with water so there “must be” more
water remaining, locked-up in the rocks or buried
underground in giant blocks of ice.
Another
recent announcement states that “greenhouse gases” in
the form of carbon dioxide with large percentages of sulfur
dioxide and hydrogen sulfide, also contributed to the
presence of liquid water oceans on Mars. Today, the average
temperature on
Mars is 46 degrees below zero C (-51 degrees F) with a
mean surface atmospheric pressure equivalent to standing
on top of a mountain six-times
higher than Mount Everest. The atmosphere is frozen, dry and thin
to the point where water would immediately sublime and
disassociate, so somehow it must have been thicker and
warmer in the past.
The remaining
carbon dioxide atmosphere points toward an older version of
the planet with greater density containing more of the gas,
according to conventional understanding. The problem is that
no amount of carbon dioxide in the evolution of any planet
is sufficient to warm up the atmosphere by itself. Coupled
with the absence of carbonate-rich rocks in Mars, a
mechanism for preventing their formation while at the same
time increasing the atmospheric pressure and accelerating
the “greenhouse” effect remained elusive.
Now scientists
are speculating that the
volcanoes on Mars once erupted with tremendous
quantities of sulfurous gases, acidifying the then extant
oceans and preventing the formation of carbonates. Mars has
a lot
more sulfur than Earth (which also contains large
deposits of carbonate rock), so the sulfuric acid dissolved
away the limestone beds, for instance, while at the same
time acting as a booster to the “greenhouse” environment.
Earth and Mars
are presumed to have been similar in the past so many
explanations for why the two planets diverged into their
disparate natural settings have been offered. It is not
surprising that
electricity in the form of plasma discharges and
lighting bolts has never been considered in the development
of each world, but the observational evidence that we have
offered in the
Thunderbolts Picture of the Day and
New and Views sections of this site is compelling.
As Electric
Universe author and physicist
Wal Thornhill wrote:“The idea of
former oceans and rivers existing on Mars came from the many
scoured channels and the flat, low terrain in the northern
hemisphere. This marked hemispheric dichotomy is
inexplicable by any known geological or astronomical effect.
It has never occurred to geologists that the agent involved
was electrified plasma. Why should it? Astrophysicists tell
them that we live in an electrically neutral universe in
which cosmic charge separation is impossible. But if that
single assumption is incorrect everything changes. If the
visible universe suffers cosmic charge separation then we
have a source of energy to build and shape galaxies, light
stars, give birth to planets, organize stable orbits and
leave the resulting scars of electrical transactions on all
solid bodies.”
Written by
Stephen Smith from an idea
submitted by James Parker
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