High-resolution photos of lava flows on Mars show coiling spiral patterns  resembling snail or nautilus shells. The discovery, made by Arizona State University graduate student Andrew Ryan, was published in a paper published April 27, 2012, in the scientific journal Science.The new discovery is the reesult of   of research into possible interactions of lava flows and floods of water in the Elysium volcanic province of Mars.On Earth, lava coils are found on the Big Island of Hawaii, mainly on the surface of ropey pahoehoe lava flows. They have also been seen in submarine lava flows near the Galapagos Rift on the Pacific Ocean floor.

In the past, a few scientists have argued that the plates in Elysium are  underlain by water ice.

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