12.07.2025 20:01
Scientists have discovered traces of ancient riverbeds approximately 16,000 kilometers long in the southern highlands of Mars.
Open University PhD student Adam Losekoot and his team have detected traces of ancient riverbeds in high-resolution images taken by NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) and Mars Global Surveyor satellites. The area examined is reported to cover approximately 10 million square kilometers.
SEDIMENTARY LAYERS BELONGING TO ANCIENT RIVER BEDS FOUND
Researchers traced geological structures known as 'fluvial sinuous ridges' in the region of Mars called Noachis Terra (the Land of Noah). These structures are sedimentary layers belonging to ancient riverbeds that hardened over time and emerged as the surrounding softer ground eroded.
CAN REACH A WIDTH OF 1.6 KILOMETERS
While some glacial rivers are several hundred meters wide and 3-4 kilometers long, larger structures can be about 1.6 kilometers wider. MRO images show that some rivers entered craters, filled them, and then continued to flow over the crater walls.
SOLAR WINDS ERODED THE ATMOSPHERE, WATER ESCAPED INTO SPACE
The discovery shows that Mars had a surface very different from its current arid face 3.7 billion years ago. At that time, the planet's atmosphere was thicker, and liquid water could exist on its surface. However, as Mars' magnetic field weakened over time, solar winds eroded the atmosphere, and water largely escaped into space.
These new findings suggest that the conditions necessary for life on Mars may have been more common in the past, while also contributing to a better understanding of the evolution of water on the planet over time.