Mars may be 140 million miles away from Earth, but scientists have discovered a connection between the two distant worlds.
Researchers from the University of Sydney have discovered a 2.4-million-year-old cycle of giant vortices in our planet’s deep sea that has been going on for more than 40 million years.
The intense underwater circulation was linked to gravitational interactions between Mars and Earth, with the Red Planet pulling ours closer to the Sun every few million years.
The synergy between the two worlds is also enough to influence Earth’s climate; it turned out that the cycles produced more solar energy and warmer weather.
The intense underwater circulation was linked to gravitational interactions between Mars and Earth, with the Red Planet pulling ours closer to the Sun every few million years, creating ‘giant eddies’ deep in our oceans.
The team drilled 370 holes deep into the oceans around the world to analyze seafloor sediments.
Samples showed cycles of weakening and strengthening, indicating that vigorous circulation was occurring beneath the depths.
Lead author Dr Adriana Dutkiewicz said she and her team were surprised to discover signs of cycles in sediments, marking the first evidence found in geological data.
“There is only one way to explain them: they are linked to cycles in the interactions between Mars and Earth in orbit around the Sun,” she continued.
The interaction between the two planets is called “resonance,” which means that a pair of orbiting objects attract each other through gravity.
Previous studies have assumed that Jupiter and Saturn were born because of the motion – the former forever orbiting the Sun three times during the cycle of the ringed planets.
The team drilled 370 holes deep into the oceans around the world to analyze seafloor sediments. Samples showed cycles of weakening and strengthening, indicating that vigorous circulation was occurring beneath the depths
The moon’s gravity causes ocean tides, but the new study is the first to find another planet impacting Earth.
For our planet, this means periods of higher incoming solar radiation and a warmer climate in cycles of 2.4 million years.
The researchers found that the warmer cycles correlate with an increase in the number of breaks in the deep-sea record, related to stronger circulation in the deep sea.
And scientists determined that the eddies, or eddies, were a key part of earlier warming seas.
It is possible that these could partially alleviate the stagnation in the oceans, as some have predicted due to a faltering AMOC (Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation) driving the Gulf Stream and maintaining a temperate climate in Europe.
Co-author Professor Dietmar Mülle said: ‘We know that there are at least two separate mechanisms that contribute to the force of deep-water mixing in the oceans. AMOC is one of them, but deep ocean eddies appear to play an important role in keeping the ocean ventilated in warm climates.
‘Of course this would not have the same effect as AMOC in terms of transporting water masses from low to high latitudes and vice versa.’
These eddies resemble giant whirlpools and often reach the deep seafloor, resulting in seafloor erosion and large accumulations of sediment called contourites, similar to snowdrifts.
“Our deep-sea data over a period of 65 million years suggests that warmer oceans have a more powerful deep circulation,” says Dutkiewicz.
‘This will potentially prevent the ocean from stagnating even if the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation slows down or stops altogether.’