Strange discovery: Mars causes erosion of Earth's oceans

The way Mars flies makes the ocean floor thinner.

Strange discovery: Mars causes erosion of Earth's oceans

Cosmic-scale interactions between celestial bodies have a direct impact on Earth's climate and geographical characteristics. In new research, scientists discovered cyclic erosion phenomena on the ocean floor, and suspected their 'author' was Mars.

Cyclical erosion on the ocean floor may be caused by Mars.

Published in the journal Nature at the end of March, the study discovered gaps in the 'encyclopedia of history' written by seabed sediments. Every 2.4 million years, the book loses a few pages, and researchers believe they are torn away by interactions between the orbits of Earth and Mars.

New findings can help scientists better understand Earth's past and future. The basis for the scientific report is sediment samples taken over the past 50 years, from hundreds of seabed drilling areas around the world.

After analysis, data from 293 drill holes showed a strange cycle: every 2.4 million years, there was a gap in fossil sediment evidence. In 2022, another study showed the existence of these gaps, and newly published research shows the repeatability of the strange phenomenon.

Scientists have taken samples from drilling sites around the world - (Photo: Dutkiewicz).

According to geophysicist Dietmar Müller, a researcher at the University of Sydney and co-author of the new study, it is highly likely that underground ocean currents have swept away sediments lying on the seabed. Data show that over the past 70 million years, seafloor sediments have been swept away 27 times.

Because the phenomenon occurs periodically, the research team turned its eyes toward the Solar System to find the cause. After decades of research, researchers have learned that gravity from other planets can impact the way Earth moves through space, even interfering with its 'internal' systems. Earth.

In fact, the Milankovitch cycle is a clear demonstration of that. It describes long-term changes in the Earth's orbit around the Sun, in addition to how the tilt of the Earth's axis causes the climate to change and leads to the formation of ice ages. It is estimated that each Milankovitch cycle lasts from 10,000-100,000 years.

In addition, larger-scale cycles, lasting from millions to tens of millions of years, also exist. They are called cosmic-scale loops, but the scientific community does not possess much solid evidence of the existence of these cycles.

It is highly likely that a cosmic-scale cycle associated with Mars's orbital orbit caused the cyclical sediment clearing . According to researcher Dietmar Müller, ' there is no other explanation for this cycle, other than the interaction between the orbits of Earth and Mars '.

 Every 2.4 million years, Mars' orbit will pull the aforementioned perihelion a little closer to the Sun.

In a newly published research report, researchers point out the relevance of the perihelion of the Earth's orbit - the point at which the Earth comes closest to the Sun. Every 2.4 million years, Mars' orbit will pull the aforementioned perihelion a little closer to the Sun, increasing the amount of solar radiation Earth is exposed to.

This amount of radiation is not too large, but researchers hypothesize that it started some cycle that could cause the Earth to change; In this case, they believe that radiation from the Sun causes underground ocean currents to change their nature. According to researcher Müller, the warming equatorial region due to the impact of Mars can make storms more active, thereby causing undercurrents to cause ocean erosion.

This is not yet the final confirmation. Scientists still need to do more research before drawing conclusions about the strange connection between the way Mars flies and Earth's ocean erosion.

Besides the ability to understand Earth's past, these discoveries can help us predict how Earth will react in the future to external influences, such as orbital-induced warming. celestial bodies in the Solar System.