Borealis Basin

June 26, 2008 11:21 PM

Plate tectonics early in its history have been suggested as an explanation of Mars' unsymmetrical shape. Multiple impacts [pdf] have been proposed. Or possibly, it's the result of a single, highly energetic impact....
posted by Kronos_to_Earth (7 comments total)

Well, it's now thought that Earth took a hit like that, so why not Mars, too? (The Earth impact event resulted in formation of the Moon, among other things.)
posted by Class Goat at 11:56 PM on June 26, 2008

Plate tectonics early in its history have been suggested
I'm not going to parse this But there is a subject/verb dissagreement here.
posted by longsleeves at 12:00 AM on June 27, 2008

Also: http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20080425043244AAJQehh
posted by longsleeves at 12:07 AM on June 27, 2008

Occam's razor suggests that aliens did it just to mess with us.
posted by stavrogin at 1:58 AM on June 27, 2008 [1 favorite has favorites]

What if, like, our Solar system, like, is a bunch of particles and someone is hurling other particles at us, like, if we were in a giant cosmic CERN ATLAS machine? And they tried to create some sort of reaction? And that reaction was US????

Think about it.
posted by nudar at 3:16 AM on June 27, 2008

Neale Adams (known more for his comic book art than science) would argue that Mars instead, is growing.

To me, its all about the winning theory. Neal Adam's theories (which are actually based on Warren Carey's theory of an expanding earth from the 50's) are largely disregarded by the scientific community today. But since we really don't know why Mars has its shape, I suggest the expanding Mars theory as a far more interesting explanation to tide us over until the answers are revealed. Think of it like creationism, and believe!
posted by samsara at 6:19 AM on June 27, 2008 [1 favorite has favorites]

Venus did it.
posted by MtDewd at 7:02 AM on June 27, 2008