Friday, May 20, 2016

Hangin' Twelve!

Well, maybe -- if there were life forms on Mars in its ancient days that were capable of surfing, we have no way of knowing how many toes they would have to "hang" over the edge of the board.

But on a couple of occasions, there would have been some gnarly waves for them to catch, as two mega-tsunamis reshaped the coastline of an ancient Martian ocean, probably following meteorite impacts. Thermal image mapping of different areas of our neighboring planet found evidence of the huge waves happening about 3.4 billion years ago. By measuring the changed coastlines, backflow channels and other features often left by a tsunami or "tidal wave," scientists estimate the Martian mega-tsunamis (which would make a great name for a rock band or weird mixed drink) were almost 400 feet high and moved many miles inland.

No word on whether anyone was wearing huarache sandals, too.

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