Saturn's Icy Moon, Iapetus struck by 50-Mile Wide Landslides

A giant landslide on Iapetus reaches halfway across a 75-mile (120 kilometer) impact crater.

CREDIT: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute

Long landslides spotted on Saturn's moon, Iapetus, could help provide clues to similar movements of material on Earth.

Scientists studying the icy satellite have determined that flash heating could cause falling ice to travel 10 to 15 times farther than previously expected on Iapetus.

Extended landslides can be found on Mars and Earth, but are more likely to be composed of rock than ice.

Despite the differences in materials, scientists believe there could be a link between the long-tumbling debris on all three bodies.

"We think there's more likely a common mechanism for all of this, and we want to be able to explain all of the observations," lead scientist Kelsi Singer of Washington University, Dept of Earth and Planetary Sciences, reported.