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Scientists at Caltech have set out to explain a long standing question in planetary science – what sculpted the extraordinary surface landscape of Mars? Was it shaped by several small impacts, via mantle convection in the mantle’s interior, or by one giant impact? Using computer modeling techniques, researchers have concluded that the planet’s landscape, which is clearly divided into lowlands in the north and highlands in the south, can indeed be explained by one giant impact early in the planet’s history. This contradicts a previously common opinion among scientists, according to which a single impact must leave a circular footprint. Since the outline of the northern lowlands region is elliptical, it was thought impossible that such a shape was created by a single mega-impact. |
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