tech2 news staffMarch 01, 2021 12:05:26 pm
A satellite orbiting the Earth has taken pictures of an event that scientists have stumped. The strange terrain found in the cold arctic depths of Siberia, Russia, near the Marga River, shows widespread ripples that scientists cannot explain. Images from NASA’s Landsat 8 satellite have been taken over many years and the space agency recently shared them on its Earth Watch website. The images show ground waves on both sides of the Marca River, with alternating light and dark lines that give it an optical illusion quality. When viewed in all four seasons, the effect is most pronounced in winter, when NASA said in the report that it would give a greater contrast to the white ice pattern. The space agency is not fully aware of what caused the system on Siberian soil.
The mountains surrounding northern Russia confuse scientists. Image Credit: NASA Earth Observatory / Landsat8
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A description provided by the space agency is linked to the warmer temperatures in the region. Many slopes of Siberia are covered with permafrost 90 percent of the year, occasionally dissolving at short intervals, followed by a freeze-thaw-freeze cycle. As the stones line up with each rotation of the frozen edge, they can take on strange circular or striped shapes known as molded soil.
The lines that cover a part of the central Siberian plateau vary according to the season. Image: NASA Earth Laboratory
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NASA also acknowledges that other examples found in designed terrain are much smaller than the model in Siberia. Agency efforts Another explanation is surface erosion. Geologist Thomas Crawford of the American Geological Survey told NASA that the lines resemble a pattern in sedimentary rock called layer cake geology, which occurs when ice or rain melts downward, chipping and tearing off pieces of sediment. The resulting layers of sediment look like pieces of a layered cake.
Crawford says that dark lines represent deeper areas and lighter lines indicate flatter areas. What causes the strange lines will remain a mystery until you read the site closely.
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