China's Mars rover finds ancient ocean ruins

Clues to the existence of coastlines on Mars 3.5 billion years ago have been revealed through newly discovered sedimentary rock layers and stratigraphy.

According to SCMP, the Zhurong Mars rover of the China National Space Administration (CNSA) may have found evidence of a coastline during its mission to the Red Planet.

Zhurong rover operating on the surface of Mars (Photo: SCMP).

To come to this conclusion, scientists at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University, the China Academy of Space Technology and the Russian Academy of Sciences, relied on data collected during the Tianwen 1 mission.

Zhu Rong discovered rock samples in the south of Utopia Planitia (a location on Mars), showing that this area is divided into three parts with different depths.

There, the system breaks up into shallow sea-like geographic structures that gradually expand into lower regions, supporting the hypothesis that this region was once covered by a vast ocean, originating from the coastline that stretches across the Martian surface.

"This coastline is likely the remnant of an ancient ocean that existed about 3.5 billion years ago ," the research team shared in the journal Scientific Reports.

"The discovery of sedimentary rocks and stratigraphic layering is a clear indication of past liquid water activity on Mars."

This is the first time scientists have succeeded in putting forward a scenario explaining how oceans formed on the Red Planet, said Professor Wu Bo, director of the Planetary Remote Sensing Laboratory at PolyU.

He also emphasized that this is an important study, adding to humanity's knowledge about the formation of water on Mars over decades.