Authors: Dan James
It is widely accepted that Valles Marineris is tectonic in origin, but despite almost five decades of research this remains a hypothesis and it is generally agreed that there is no other evidence for tectonic activity on Mars. Using Valles Marineris to prove a tectonic theory is therefore a circular argument. Despite the observation that most planetary surfaces have been modified principally by impact events, dismissing an impact event as an origin for Valles Marineris has been trivially easy owing to the lack of any rigorous or plausible mechanism. Here I propose a mechanism for an impact event which is consistent with observation and physical theory, and which, I claim, has far more explanatory power than a tectonic hypothesis.
Comments: 4 Pages. 1500 words
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[v1] 2018-03-11 08:56:42
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