>
- A new study finds that Mars’ craters are the remains of ancient riverbeds
- Scientists believe that these river systems have the right conditions for life
- Read more: NASA’s Curiosity rover discovers a strange, bone-like rock on Mars
Mars is a desolate wasteland, but scientists have discovered the remains of ancient river systems that once had the right conditions to support life.
Researchers at Pennsylvania State University reanalyzed data collected by NASA’s Curiosity rover at Gale Crater and found that the formations were habitable bodies of water and much more abundant than previously thought.
The team identified shallow benches and short, truncated ridges they call “noses” within the landscape that could be indicators of ancient river deposits in the craters.
These bodies of water are also believed to behave like those on Earth, and are “important for life, chemical cycles, nutrient cycles and sediment cycles,” the researchers said.
The team identified shallow benches and short, truncated ridges they call “noses” within the landscape that could be indicators of ancient river deposits in the craters.
“We found evidence that Mars was likely a planet of rivers,” said Benjamin Cardenas, assistant professor of Earth sciences at Penn State and lead author.
“We see signs of this all over the planet.”
The study was conducted by mapping the erosion of ancient Martian soil using a computer model trained on satellite data.
The data came from NASA Curiosity and a 3D scan of rock layers called strata that were deposited over millions of years beneath the Gulf of Mexico sea floor.
In designing their computer model, Cárdenas and his team found a new use for 25-year-old stratigraphic scans collected by oil companies.
The team reanalyzed data from NASA’s Curiosity rover at Gale Crater in Mars’ southern hemisphere, near the Martian equator.
The analysis revealed a new explanation for common Martian crater formations, which, until now, have never been associated with eroded river sediments, the researchers said.
The survey “provided a perfect comparison with Mars,” Cardenas said.
The team simulated Mars-like erosion using 3D scans of actual layers recorded on Earth.
When they ran the simulation, the model revealed an eroded Martian landscape that formed topographic benches and noses rather than river ridges, and looked almost identical to the landforms observed by the Curiosity spacecraft inside Gale Crater.
The analysis revealed a new explanation for common Martian crater formations, which, until now, have never been associated with eroded river sediments, the researchers said.
“We have everything to learn about Mars by better understanding how these river deposits are interpreted stratigraphically, and by thinking of today’s rocks as layers of sediment accumulated over time,” Cárdenas said.
“This analysis is not a snapshot but a record of change. What we see on Mars today are the remains of an active geological history, not some landscape frozen in time.”
Previous studies mapping Mars have concluded that river ridges are thought to be the opposite of a river.
Hills are only found in the Southern Hemisphere, where Gale Crater is located, although it is closer to the Martian equator.
However, the new study suggests that the seat-and-nose terrain could also be ancient fluvial deposits.
“This suggests that there may be undiscovered river deposits elsewhere on the planet, and that a larger portion of the Martian sedimentary record may have been built up by rivers during a habitable period of Martian history,” Cardenas said.
“On Earth, river corridors are very important for life, chemical cycles, nutrient cycles, and sediment cycles.
“Everything indicates that these rivers behave similarly on Mars.”
(Tags for translation)dailymail