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15h ago

Shelf-Like Band on Mars Bolsters Case for Ancient Northern Ocean

Earth-style modeling points to a long-lived sea pending rover tests.

This image taken by ESA's Mars Express satellite shows Echus Chasma, a prominent plateau on Mars that may have once hosted gigantic waterfalls.
This NASA illustration shows what Mars could have looked like billions of years ago, when a large ocean might have covered about one-third of its surface.
A view from the "Kimberley" formation on Mars taken by NASA's Curiosity rover. One-third of the red planet might have once been covered by an ocean.
An artist’s impression of ESA’s upcoming Rosalind Franklin rover, part of the ExoMars mission, expected to launch in 2028.

Overview

  • A peer-reviewed Nature study by Caltech researchers identifies a broad, flat band in Mars’s northern lowlands that looks like a continental shelf.
  • The mapped band lines up with river deltas and earlier shoreline-like features, creating a coherent outline of a former ocean margin.
  • On Earth, continental shelves form only along oceans over long periods, so the feature suggests a stable sea that may have covered up to one-third of Mars.
  • The team first dried Earth in computer models to see which landforms endure, then used Mars orbiter topography to find the same signature on the Red Planet.
  • The authors urge rover sampling and new orbital analyses to confirm coastal sediments, which could steer future searches for past habitable environments.