You’re probably already familiar with the arid, dusty appearance of Mars as it is today, but researchers have discovered evidence of a large ocean that likely covered hundreds of thousands of square kilometres on the surface of the red planet 3.5 billion years ago.
This proof takes the shape of distinct coastline topography that has been located in various satellite photographs of the Martian surface. A relief map can be created by taking these photos at slightly varied angles.
More than 6,500 kilometres (4,039 miles) of fluvial ridges that appear to have been carved out by rivers have been mapped, proving that they are most likely eroded river deltas or submarine-channel belts (channels carved out on the seafloor).
Recently found on Mars are the remains of a once-vast ocean
According to geoscientist Benjamin Cardenas of Pennsylvania State University, “the huge, innovative thing that we did in this article was think about Mars in terms of its stratigraphy and its sedimentary record.”
“On Earth, sediment that is accumulated through time allows us to trace the history of streams. The idea that sediment is transported by water and that you may assess changes on Earth by observing how sediment accumulates is known as stratigraphy. We’ve done that here, but here is Mars.”
The scientists used an examination of ridge thicknesses, angles, and placements to understand the study area—the topographical depression known as the Aeolis Dorsa region on Mars—using data from the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter gathered in 2007.
According to Cardenas, it appears likely that a substantial amount of change was occurring in this area of the earth all those years ago. The evidence of significant sea level rise and the swift transport of rocks by rivers and currents serve as proof of this. Currently, Aeolis Dorsa has Mars’s greatest concentration of fluvial ridges.
All of this is related to the look for life on Mars. Whether the conditions on the red planet have ever been favourable enough to support life is one of the most fundamental issues researchers are trying to answer about it.
The existence of an ocean this big indicates a stronger possibility for life, according to Cardenas, and this is one of the most important factors in this situation.
“It also reveals information on the development of the ancient climate. These results indicate that there must have been a time when the temperature was high enough and the atmosphere was dense enough to support this much liquid water at once.”
The Aeolis Dorsa region is just the beginning for the researchers.
Some of the same researchers, including Cardenas, utilised an acoustic imaging technique used to map ancient seafloors in the Gulf of Mexico to a model of how water may have degraded the surface of the moon in a different study published in Nature Geoscience.
Large areas of what may be fluvial ridges can be seen all across Mars, and the simulations performed by the team are very comparable to how the surface of the red planet is shaped, indicating that there was once a lot of water covering the planet.
Even though it’s difficult to see back through billions of years of time, there are more and more indications that water was previously abundant on Mars. Research is ongoing to determine what it might have led to and where that water is currently.
Cardenas asserts that if there had been tides on ancient Mars, they would have been present, gradually bringing in and taking away water. “This is the kind of environment where early Martian life could have developed.”
