They discover a mathematical law “hidden” in the ripples of sand all over the earth

Posted:

13 ene 2022 14:23 GMT

The researchers hope their discovery will help explain the formation of some of the mysterious sand ripples recently observed on Mars in the future.

An interdisciplinary team has found evidence of a “hidden” mathematical law in ripples in sand, after analyzing a large sample of massive wave fields from around the Earth. mentioned University of Leipzig in Germany.

Mega waves are ripples of sand ranging in size from regular beach waves (cm) to dunes (10 to 100 metres). They are found on Earth and on Mars. Regarding its composition, it consists of a unique combination of coarse and fine grains. “It always looks the same, but it never matches because of turbulent winds,” said one of the study’s authors, Professor Claus-Dieter Crowe from the University of Leipzig.

Work published in the magazine Nature Communications, that by dividing the diameter of the coarse grains in the mixture by the diameter of the smallest, a similar number is always obtained as a result, something not previously seen in several decades of research.

This number can be used to more reliably determine the category to which the detected sand waves belong and to know the process of transporting the grains through which they formed.

The researchers also hope their discoveries will help explain the formation of some of the new and mysterious sand ripples recently observed on Mars or in fossils and far-flung places on our planet in the future.

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