A team of scientists has revealed after a study of Saturn’s icy moon’s images that these signify huge ice avalanches sometime back on the moon, which are almost similar to sturzstroms i. e. the landslides on Earth.

It is being said by the team that such incidents have never been expected on Iapetus atleast. Iapetus is eccentric just like moons come and its walnut shape is formed by a mountainous ridge, which comes out at its equator. Also, half light in colour and half dark-coloured the planet contains mountains, almost 12-mile-high i. e. double the Mount Everest’s height.

The report recently published in Nature Geoscience by Washington University in St. Louis has also unfolded that the sturzstroms (fallstreams) were able to cover a distance equivalent to some 30 times the height covered when these fall.

An example has also been cited of the prehistoric Blackhawk landslide that occurred in southern California. It is being said that sturzstroms are just the same, which can also cover plains for some tens of miles.

“Because Iapetus is so cold, its ice acts much like rock does on Earth. So a similar flash heating mechanism might explain rocky landslides”, said Kelsi Singer, a planetary scientist.