Modern glacier remains found near Mars equator suggest water ice possibly present today at low latitudes SETIInstitute
The surface feature identified as a"relict glacier" is one of many light-toned deposits found in the region. Typically, LTDs consist mainly of light-colored sulfate salts, but this deposit also shows many of the features of a glacier, including crevasse fields and moraine bands. The glacier is estimated to be 6 kilometers long and up to 4 kilometers wide, with a surface elevation ranging from +1.3 to +1.7 kilometers.
The presence of volcanic materials blanketing the region hints of how the sulfate salts might have formed and preserved a glacier's imprint underneath. When freshly erupted pyroclastic materials come in contact with water ice, sulfate salts like the ones commonly making up Mars's light-toned deposits may form and build up into a hardened, crusty salt layer.
Over time, with erosion removing the blanketing volcanic materials, a crusty layer of sulfates mirroring the glacier ice underneath became exposed, which would explain how a salt deposit is now visible, presenting features unique to glaciers such as crevasses and moraine bands."Glaciers often present distinctive types of features, including marginal, splaying, and tic-tac-toe crevasse fields, and also thrust moraine bands and foliation.
It remains to be seen whether water ice might still be preserved underneath the light-toned deposit or if it has disappeared entirely."Water ice is, at present, not stable at the very surface of Mars near the equator at these elevations. So, it's not surprising that we're not detecting any water ice at the surface. It is possible that all the glacier's water ice has sublimated away by now.
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