Caused by huge amounts of material moving up to 360 kilometres per hour for up to tens of kilometres, some landslides on Mars seem to defy the laws of physics. The surprising lack of friction involved in these powerful events have led many scientists to think they must have formed during an ice age, with distinct long ridges thought to be the result of underlying ice at the time of the landslide.

Now new research suggests this might not have been the case at all. A team of scientists has proposed that the long ridges could have instead formed by underlying layers of unstable, light rocks, created by vibrations and collisions of rock particles at the bottom of the slide with the rough surface of the valley.

The results are important as these long “runout landslides” also occur on Earth occasionally. Here, they are hard to study as our planet is active with erosion, wind, rain, vegetation and plate tectonics, which destroys their evidence. But the new findings could help us mitigate against such devastating events, both at home and on Mars.

A recent series of earthquakes in the Balkans have left geologists concerned about the threat of more seismic events. And if you’re thinking of buying an electric car, but not sure how to answer the question of how green they actually are, read this.

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