About 3.4 billion years ago, an asteroid collision may have caused a Martian megatsunami that is similar to the Chicxulub impact. On Earth, the Chicxulub impact caused the extinction of all non-avian dinosaurs about 66 million years ago.
Scientists report in their study, titled "Evidence of an Oceanic Impact and Megatsunami Sedimentation in Chryse Planitia, Mars" published in Scientific Reports, that they have identified an impact crater that could have been the result of an asteroid or comet collision within an ocean in the Martian northern lowlands that led to a megatsunami.
Finding the Impact Crater
Before this study, the location of the impact crater was unverified. Researchers in the past proposed that an asteroid hit an ocean in the Martian northern lowlands that caused a megatsunami measuring up to 250 meters approximately 3.4 billion years ago, SciTech Daily reported.
To confirm their theory, the team simulated an asteroid and comet collision in the region where they suspected the impact crater was formed to know what could have created it. They named the crater Pohl, which is about 68 miles (110km) in diameter and located in an area that is about 393ft (120m) below its proposed sea level.
The simulations formed craters with similar dimensions to Pohl and were proposed to have been caused by a nine-kilometer asteroid encountering strong ground resistance and releasing 13 million megatons of TNT energy. Some of their simulations suggest that a three-kilometer asteroid that met a weak ground resistance equivalent to 0.5 million megatons of TNT energy could have caused it.
To compare, the amount of energy the Tsar Bomba can release is the most powerful nuclear bomb ever tested releasing approximately 57 megatons of TNT energy.
Anyway, both simulations estimate that the impact crater could be nearly 70 miles (110 km) in diameter and generate megatsunamis up to 900 miles (1,500 kilometers) from the center of the impact site. Considering that a three-kilometer-wide asteroid could have caused it, scientists estimated the tsunami to be about 820 feet (250 meters) tall.
Were There Two Megatsunamis?
The authors suggest that the Pohl impact crater could be similar to the Chicxulub impact crater on Earth. According to Phys.org, previous studies show that the latter occurred with a region 200 meters below sea level that created a crater with a temporary diameter of about 100 kilometers and also generated a 200-meter-tall megatsunami that resulted in the extinction of many species on Earth.
A separate study by the same authors said that there could be two Martian megatsunamis triggered by a pair of meteor impacts that is only millions of years apart. MailOnline reported that Mars went through a period of rigid climate change as its liquid water turns to ice between the two asteroid impacts.
The first asteroid impact generated a wave composed of liquid water. However, the second tsunami forms rounded lobes of ice water structure. That means the ancient on Mars could be briny and had the right temperature to host ancient life.
RELATED ARTICLE: Mars Experienced Tsunamis Three Billion Years Ago: Impact Crater Showed Proof Of Ocean
Check out more news and information on Mars in Science Times.
