Subj: Something missing on Mars
Date: 10/30/00 9:36:03 AM Pacific Standard Time
From: drfoster@pdq.net (David Fucich)

Kent:

This is off my usual topic; however, after viewing the latest MOC picts
on your site, the following question dawned on me:

Where is the SALT?

Let me explain my query. Its is now commonly held that there was once a
massive amount of water on Mars. Large standing bodies of water, like
oceans leach salts from the crust they sit upon. Even fresh water
leaches minerals from the lands they flow over.

Now, assuming that Mars had something akin to oceans, there is a high
probability that they would be salty. The current knowledge of the
mineral content of Mars, would make the existence of salts see
reasonable.

Lets jump ahead to Mars losing its water (or at least the majority of
it).

In order to have water, Mars would have to have had a much more dense
atmosphere than today. There would have had to been enough atmospheric
pressure to keep the water from evaporating (a function of both temp and
pressure).

Eventually, Mars loses the majority of its atmosphere due to cause(s)
not yet known (although many theories abound). this means that most of
the water evaporated out into space. In the process of evaporation, the
water released its salts and absorbed minerals ( they fall out of
solution).

So there should be lots of salts laying about. I think they are there.

The shallowest water would have evaporated first, deep channels and
craters would have evaporated last because of the water own pressure.

When I look at the ribbed channels, I don't see fungi growing, I see
salts. In fact as I look at these craters with what most are calling
sands inside, I see the possibility of salts.

Salt mounds would have the fractal edges like the supposed fungi mounds.
Additionally the supposed fungi impregnated logs would have thicker
fungi at the edges and not the center. Salt would mound up as seen and
as they do on earth (see salt domes). Salt domes are plentiful where the
Gulf of Mexico receded from the North American Gulf coast and the salts
came out of solution, and were eventually covered by sediment.

The salts on Mars should be surface collections, because the process
that would have covered them did not take place as the planet died to
quickly.

If sodium existed on mars and chlorine existed on mars than salts would
have formed because sodium ions need chloride ions in order to
stabilize.

Would there be as much salt as earth? More likely not. Less water, less
land and less time to leach out salts. Nevertheless, there should be
mounding of salts in low spots all about the planet. We need to start
looking for them.