New evidence of ancient rivers suggests Mars may have been a “blue planet,” thanks to an ocean spanning its entire northern hemisphere.
Cameras from several Mars orbiters captured the dusty remnants of apparent river deltas, which were described in research published Jan. 7 in the journal NPJ Space Exploration.
The team, led by researchers at the University of Bern, peered at the famed Valles Marineris, which is the largest valley system on Mars and five times longer than the Grand Canyon. Around this Red Planet region, scientists spotted “structures near the canyon system that resemble river deltas on Earth,” University of Bern representatives wrote in a statement. “These structures represent the mouth of a river into an ocean,” the statement added. “The new study thus provides clear evidence of a coastline, and consequently, of an earlier ocean on Mars.”
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