Topographical map of Mars showing Utopia Planitia, which may have once been an ocean
US Geological Survey
A possible ancient shoreline has been discovered in a region of Mars explored by the Chinese Zhurong rover, providing further evidence that an ocean once covered a large area of land in the planet’s northern hemisphere.
The rover landed on southern Utopia Planitia in May 2021 and remained active for nearly a year. Researchers analyzing the rover’s data have found signs of one the ancient ocean or as liquid water recently like 400,000 years ago.
now, Bo Wu At the Hong Kong Polytechnic University and his colleagues have conducted a comprehensive analysis of the topographic features of the landing area, combining satellite remote sensing data with rover observations.
They claim to have found features consistent with the existence of a shoreline in southern Utopia Planitia, including troughs and sediment channels. They also dated and identified the composition of surface deposits in the area. Based on this, the team believes that the ocean existed 3.68 billion years ago, but froze and disappeared about 260 million years later.
“Not only do the findings provide further evidence to support the theory of a Martian ocean, but they also present, for the first time, a discussion of its likely evolutionary scenario,” says Wu.
The area can be divided into a shallow part in the south and a deep part in the north. The shallow ocean may have been as deep as 600 meters, Wu says, but there is not enough data to estimate the ocean’s maximum depth.
“Water is a key ingredient for life, and the presence of an ocean on Mars in the past suggests that Mars may have once been capable of harboring microbial life in its early stages,” he says.
Mathieu Laposte At Stanford University in California, he says that whether or not oceans existed on early Mars is a highly controversial question that has critical implications for the planet’s past habitability. He says future missions will need to test the findings of this new research.
“Utopia Planitia may provide an invaluable record of early Martian littoral and coastal environments,” says Lapôtre.
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