Mars: Change in Axial Tilt Due to Climate?
- 11 May 1990
- journal article
- other
- Published by American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) in Science
- Vol. 248 (4956) , 720-721
- https://doi.org/10.1126/science.248.4956.720
Abstract
The average tilt of Mars' equator with respect to its orbital plane may have increased significantly over the age of the solar system. Obliquity oscillations might have induced changes in the climate, which altered the mass distribution and hence the solar torque on the planet. Viscous deformation attributable to loading by the large polar caps expected at low obliquity may have induced secular changes in the axial tilt. Earth-like effective viscosities can account for virtually the entire present obliquity of 24.4 degrees. Thus the present average tilt of Mars may not be primordial.Keywords
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