Why didn Mars produce huge Earth destroying tides when it was so close?
First, tides in the deep oceans do not travel around the Earth. Instead, they move around in circles. Tides run more parallel with continent shelves instead of running headon into the continents. The fastest waves in the water can travel is around 800 km/hr or 500 mph. The moving bulge the moon causes in the Earth’s crust does travel around the Earth. Generally speaking, tides in the deep seas North and South of the equator circle CCW (counter clockwise) and CW (clockwise) respectively. The height and even speed of a tide can change a lot as the water depth becomes more shallow. The difference in the gravitation pull of the moon on the center of the Earth (point A) versus its pull on the the surface of the Earth closest to it (point B) and furtherest from it (point C) causes the crust of the Earth facing and opposite the moon to be raised up several cm. When Mars was very close to the Earth it caused two tremendous bulges on the Earth. Sometimes these two bulges were stationary and som
