New evidence of an ancient ocean on Mars

The hypothesis that an ocean once covered one-third of the red planet’s surface billions of years ago has been a controversial issue in the scientific community for decades. In 2021, China’s Zhurong rover landed in the plains of the Utopia region in the northern hemisphere of Mars, where researchers discovered many signs of ancient water before. The robot has been exploring the planet’s surface ever since, and new research published in the journal Scientific Reports reveals some of the findings from the mission, AFP reported on November 7.

Lead researcher Bo Wu of the Hong Kong Polytechnic University said they found many features of a past ocean around the landing site, including funnel-shaped craters, multi-sided trenches and folds. song. Previous research has shown that funnel-shaped craters may come from mud volcanoes, which often form in areas with water or ice.

Information from autonomous robots as well as satellite data and analysis results revealed that a shore line once existed nearby. The team estimates that the ocean was created by flooding nearly 3.7 billion years ago. Then the ocean froze, wearing away the coastline before disappearing more than 3.4 billion years ago. According to Bo, to be able to draw a firm conclusion, a mission is needed to bring Martian rock samples back to Earth for closer examination.

Benjamin Cardenas of the University of Pennsylvania, USA, a scientist who has analyzed other evidence of oceans on Mars, believes that Bo’s team has not fully considered the impact of strong Martian winds blowing through sediment and weathering. rocks for billions of years. “We often think that Mars is less active than the Moon, but it is still active,” Cardenas said. According to him, model-based research demonstrates that even slow rates of erosion on Mars would destroy signs of coastlines after such a long time.

Cardenas emphasized that the discovery of an ocean on Mars helps answer whether Earth is the only planet that can harbor life in the solar system. “Many scientists believe that life on Earth appeared in the ocean, where hot gases and minerals spewed onto the sea surface from near the ground, or near the intersection of water and air, in pools of water. small tides. So evidence of oceans makes the planet seem more suitable for life,” Cardenas said.