Topographic map of Mars showing Utopian plains that may have once been an ocean
United States Geological Survey
Possible ancient coastlines have been discovered in a region of Mars explored by China’s Zhurong rover, adding further evidence that vast lowlands in Mars’ northern hemisphere may once have been covered by ocean. The evidence has been obtained.
The rover landed in the southern part of Utopia Plain in May 2021 and remained active for almost a year. Researchers studying data from the rover have found hints that there was an ancient ocean or liquid water 400,000 years ago.
Now, Bo Wu of the Hong Kong Polytechnic University and colleagues have conducted a comprehensive analysis of the topographical features of the landing area by combining remote sensing data from satellites and observations from the rover.
They say they found features consistent with the presence of a southern Utopia coastline, including valleys and sediment channels. They also determined the dating and composition of surface sediments in the area. Based on this, the research team believes that the ocean existed 3.68 billion years ago, but froze and disappeared about 260 million years later.
“This discovery not only provides further evidence to support the Martian ocean theory, but also perhaps for the first time presents a discussion of its evolutionary scenario,” Wu said.
This area can be divided into a shallow area to the south and a deep area to the north. Wu said shallower parts of the ocean may have been up to 600 meters deep, but there isn’t enough data to estimate the ocean’s maximum depth.
“Water is an important element for life, and the past presence of oceans on Mars raises the possibility that Mars may once have been home to early microbial life,” he says. .
Mathieu Rapport of Stanford University in California said whether early Mars had an ocean is a highly debated question that has important implications for Mars’ past habitability. He said future missions will need to test the new findings.
“Utopia Plains may constitute a valuable record of early Martian near-shore and coastal environments,” Rapport said.
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(Tag to translate) Mars
