Let's look at what happens in a chaos zone on Mars, which are the source regions for the outburst "floods". Instead of trying to undermine the cliffs by pumping 1000 times the flow of the Mississippi out throuigh them, on a frigid dry planet, let's just let the cliff collapse due to a Marsquake. Now, we've already seen why Mars is composed of layered terrain, consisting of rock-rich and ice-rich layers, with lots of solid CO2 ("dry ice"). When these layers get exposed to low pressures near the surface, they start to fizz and froth.

      Created: May 2002
      Last modified: May 2002
      Authorised by:  Head, Earth Sciences

      Maintained by: Nick Hoffman
      Email: nhoffman@unimelb.edu.au