Second question! Are there any physical features on the Earth's land surface for whose formation we have no generally accepted explanation? Are there "mystery" features still unexplained? I would doubt it given the sophistication of our science, but it would be fascinating if there were and you devoted an issue to one such!
That is a great suggestion and I'll look around for strange geologic phenomena!
As for features without any explanation, one of the most famous is the Great Unconformity, which I wrote about here: https://letstalkoutcrop.substack.com/p/the-great-unconformity?r=3kyzup. At the Great Unconformity, there are nearly a billion years of missing geologic time, and there is no firm consensus for why this period is missing in most geologic records across the globe. Some say many smaller events, and some argue for a long period of a snowball Earth, but it's still debated.
Other specific geologic features under debate still are Upheaval Dome in Utah and the Richat Structure (also called "The Eye of Africa") in Mauritania. Both dome-like structures are still debated between being meteorite impact craters or intrusion-based domes from upwelling of magma and hydrothermal fluids. I wrote about Upheaval Dome here https://letstalkoutcrop.substack.com/p/fold-friday-upheaval-dome-utah?r=3kyzup and will write about the Richat Structure in the future!
There are definitely many unusual features and phenomena that don't have great explanations, and I'll probably dedicate some future articles to those!!
Mars was once host to extensive oceans and also had tectonic processes. Has there ever been evidence on its current surface of any remnants of something like our abyssal hills?
From what I've read, there doesn't appear to be evidence of abyssal hills on Mars. Mars may have had tectonic plates, but fewer than Earth. The best evidence of Mars's tectonic plates is a strike-slip fault similar to the San Andreas at the Valles Marineris. Most of the remnant faults observed are likely due to volcanism that has been more widespread on the surface than tectonic plates.
Second question! Are there any physical features on the Earth's land surface for whose formation we have no generally accepted explanation? Are there "mystery" features still unexplained? I would doubt it given the sophistication of our science, but it would be fascinating if there were and you devoted an issue to one such!
That is a great suggestion and I'll look around for strange geologic phenomena!
As for features without any explanation, one of the most famous is the Great Unconformity, which I wrote about here: https://letstalkoutcrop.substack.com/p/the-great-unconformity?r=3kyzup. At the Great Unconformity, there are nearly a billion years of missing geologic time, and there is no firm consensus for why this period is missing in most geologic records across the globe. Some say many smaller events, and some argue for a long period of a snowball Earth, but it's still debated.
Other specific geologic features under debate still are Upheaval Dome in Utah and the Richat Structure (also called "The Eye of Africa") in Mauritania. Both dome-like structures are still debated between being meteorite impact craters or intrusion-based domes from upwelling of magma and hydrothermal fluids. I wrote about Upheaval Dome here https://letstalkoutcrop.substack.com/p/fold-friday-upheaval-dome-utah?r=3kyzup and will write about the Richat Structure in the future!
There are definitely many unusual features and phenomena that don't have great explanations, and I'll probably dedicate some future articles to those!!
Mars was once host to extensive oceans and also had tectonic processes. Has there ever been evidence on its current surface of any remnants of something like our abyssal hills?
From what I've read, there doesn't appear to be evidence of abyssal hills on Mars. Mars may have had tectonic plates, but fewer than Earth. The best evidence of Mars's tectonic plates is a strike-slip fault similar to the San Andreas at the Valles Marineris. Most of the remnant faults observed are likely due to volcanism that has been more widespread on the surface than tectonic plates.