NASA satellite photos that amaze experts

A series of satellite images taken by NASA In the north Siberian region in Russia, Shows a very strange landscape. The exhibits on Earth are from space Polygonal graphics s Marginal differences Dark and light wavy. The exclusivity offered by the territory of this sector of the Siberian Arctic baffles scientists who have tried to explain this phenomenon.

Photos were taken by Landsat 8 satellite On both marginal Marja River, In Northeast Siberia. The record has been implemented over several years, and Landscapes in different seasons Of the year. This week, the NASA Earth Observatory page published many of these photos, which drew attention to its special terrain.

Scientists aren’t completely sure why these differently shaped patterns on Earth increase in intensity in images captured during the winter. Some find the explanation written on Frozen Ground.

This region of the Central Siberian Plateau, located in the Arctic, covers 90% of the year with permafrost – frozen ground -, as reported by NASA, which thaws in short periods. When patches of ground thaw and refreeze in a periodic manner, they adopt strange circular or striped patterns known as “textured soils,” according to the scientists in a paper published in January 2003 in the journal Science.

However, this explanation does not fully explain the phenomenon, as other examples of “patterned” floors tend to show designs with smaller stripes than those seen on Siberian soils.

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For geomorphologists, the nature of soil offers another explanation for the various shade lines. In such cold regions, a type of phenomenon known as gelisol appears. That is, soils with permafrost at the top of two meters, where the dark and light layers are usually distinguished according to the amount of organic or mineral matter and the sediment content in them.

When the soil freezes and thaws, the layers disintegrate and mix vertically in a process called “cryogenic turbidity”. Continued freeze-thaw throughout the seasons could cause the layers to line up in a striped pattern. Various types of tundra plants (lichens, low shrubs, and mosses) can grow preferentially in these “gelisol” layers, accentuating the visible streaks from above. But this hypothesis has not been tested extensively.

Another possible cause of this phenomenon is corrosion. Thomas Crawford, a geologist with the US Geological Survey, told the NASA Observatory page that the lines resemble a pattern of sedimentary rocks known among experts as “cake layer geology.”

These patterns occur when snow melts or rain falls, and fragments of sedimentary rock are cracked and discharged into piles. The process can reveal sheets of sediment that look like lines in a multi-layered cake, according to Craford, with darker lines representing steeper areas and lighter lines reflecting steeper areas.

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According to satellite images, this type of sedimentary layer is more prominent in winter, when snow falls on flat areas, which makes this part of the scene appear more clear.

In areas closer to the river, the pattern gradually fades. “It happens that sediments there build up in more uniform mounds along the banks, after millions of years of erosion,” said Crawford.

Crawford added that the pattern fades at the banks of the river, as sediments accumulate in more uniform mounds along the banks after millions of years of erosion.

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