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EARLY MARS: WARM ENOUGH TO MELT WATER?

While some researchers believe that only asteroid collisions made Mars warm enough to have running rivers, a Penn State researcher believes the planet had to be continuously warmer to form Mars’ deep valleys, but he does not know how the planet warmed up. Some recent research suggests that early Mars was cold most of the time and warmed up only when objects impacted the planet. The impacts would warm the atmosphere and melt water trapped in underground and surface ice, causing rivers to flow and cutting the valleys that rival Arizona’s Grand Canyon. “I do not think this is right,” said James F. Kasting, distinguished professor of geosciences and meteorology. “I do not think there was enough time involved to form the types of features that we see on the Martian landscape.” Kasting believes that a greenhouse effect warmed the planet. However, he has calculated that a carbon dioxide and water greenhouse would not have warmed the planet above the freezing point of water. For the full story by Andrea Elyse Messer, visit