NASA publishes pictures of Siberia and causes confusion

The NASA I posted a series of photos of the area Marja River, at SiberiaWhere Earth Offers Some Strange ripples Which scientists still don’t fully understand.

Satellite images Landsat 8 and published in Earth Observatory Show how the terrain has changed in recent years: The area appears as a kind of natural topographic layout, With a series of light and dark lines that give it a less disturbing look.

There might be a possible explanation on your floor, Ice cream 90% of the year: This region of the Central Siberian Plateau, within Arctic CircleMostly covered with PermafrostA thick layer of ice sometimes melts.

Frozen places that suddenly thaw, only to freeze soon after, have been known to adopt strange circular or striped patterns.

A study published in the journal “Science” in 2003 described this phenomenon called “carved soil.” This occurs when surface and rocks are naturally graded during the freeze-thaw cycle.

This is what happens in places like Stone circles from Svalbard in Norway; However, these soils tend to be much less extensive than those on the Siberian Plateau, as some studies have shown. Additionally, these ripples at the edge of the Marga River are usually more noticeable in winter.

American Geologist Thomas Crawford He commented in a NASA post that the lines resemble the pattern of sedimentary rocks known as “Geology of the pastel layer”.

These patterns occur when snow melts or rain falls on a slope (such as river hills), causing fracturing and washing of portions of sedimentary rock.

“It can reveal the process Sediment panels Which looks like slices of a layered cake with darker lines representing steeper areas and the lighter lines representing flat areas.

Thomas Crawford, geologist

According to NASA, this is a very powerful theory. However, no scientific team traveled to the place to study it.

The third option for this phenomenon is erosion.