Researchers think they've solved the mystery of dark markings found on Mars surface

Researchers reckon they’ve solved one of the mysteries of Mars.

There’s long been conspiracy theories about the dark markings found the planet’s surface, with scientists having their own beliefs for the cause.

Having been first observed in images from NASA’s Viking mission in the 1970s, some had interpreted the eerie streaks as liquid flows and others believed they were triggered by the dry process.

The bizarre looking dark streaks almost look painted on from space and are known as Recurring Slope Lineae or RSLs. They tend to last for years or decades while others ‘come and go more quickly.'

But now a new study using AI casts doubt on the previous understanding as the researchers believe they didn’t come about as a result of water and rather were likely signs of wind and dust activity.

I mean, they're pretty eerie. (NASA)

“A big focus of Mars research is understanding modern-day processes on Mars — including the possibility of liquid water on the surface,” Adomas Valantinas, a postdoctoral researcher at Brown University who co-authored the research, said.

“Our study reviewed these features but found no evidence of water. Our model favours dry formation processes.”

Published in Nature Communications in May, Valantinas, with co-author Valentin Bickel, turned to a machine learning algorithm to catalogue as many slope streaks as they could.

They were able to train the algorithm to create a first-of-its-kind global Martian map of slope streaks containing over 500,000 streak features.

“Once we had this global map, we could compare it to databases and catalogues of other things like temperature, wind speed, hydration, rock slide activity and other factors.” Bickel explained. “Then we could look for correlations over hundreds of thousands of cases to better understand the conditions under which these features form.”

This analysis then found that slope streaks and RSLs are ‘not generally associated with factors that suggest a liquid or frost origin.'

It's different to what was previously believed. (Digital Illustration/Getty Stock)

And instead, the researchers found that it’s more likely they form in places with above average wind speed and dust deposition, indicating a dry origin.

They concluded that the streaks most likely form ‘when layers of fine dust suddenly slide off steep slopes’ with specific triggers varying.

As the researchers say the results ‘cast new doubt on slope streaks and RSLs as habitable environments’, NASA says: “Interestingly, slope streaks occupy less than 0.1 percent of the Martian surface—but their impact is outsized. They are estimated to move enough dust each Martian year to rival several global dust storms, making them key players in the planet’s climate and dust cycle.”