Detailed analysis of data from the Curiosity rover has convinced scientists that most of today’s craters on Mars may have been rivers suitable for ancient life.
Mars was most likely a planet of rivers, according to American astrogeologists in the journal Geophysical Research Letters.
Scientists used numerical models that simulated soil erosion on Mars over thousands of years. It turned out that the stone structures in the craters appear to be the remains of ancient riverbeds, reports said earth.com.
“We find evidence that Mars was probably a planet of rivers,” Cardenas explains, referring to widespread signs on Mars’ surface that point to a watery past.
The computer model was first used to study the soil of Mars and calculate its evolution. Researchers have painstakingly mapped signs of erosion to trace its history. The artificial intelligence was trained using satellite data and images from Curiosity.
The second major component of the training base was the results of 3D scanning of rock layers formed over millions of years beneath the seabed of the Gulf of Mexico.
In computer modeling, there were many similarities in the two sources of information. No one had previously linked the Red Planet’s crater structures to river sediments.
Cardenas enthuses, “This suggests that there could be undiscovered fluvial deposits elsewhere on the planet, and that an even larger portion of Mars’ sedimentary record could have been constructed by rivers during a habitable period in Mars’ history.”
Reflecting on the implications for life, he adds: “On Earth, river corridors are so important for life, the chemical cycles, the nutrient cycles and the sediment cycles. Everything indicates that these rivers behave the same way on Mars.”
This study does more than just reconstruct Mars’ ancient environment. It also raises new hopes for discovering signs of past life on the red planet.
“Our research indicates that Mars could have had many more rivers than previously thought, which certainly paints a more optimistic picture of ancient life on Mars,” Cardenas said.
The discovery, which indicates that most of Mars’ landscape once harbored the right conditions for life, marks a monumental step forward in planetary science, reshaping our understanding of our celestial neighbor.
