Mars used to have a huge ocean

About 3.5 billion years ago, the plateaus north of Mars were covered by a giant ocean that was about one-third the size of the red planet.

The ancient ocean on Mars may be larger than the Atlantic Ocean.Photo: scienceblogs.com .

Many data collected by the spacecraft previously showed that Mars probably had an ocean. However, this theory is still controversial in the scientific world because the evidence is not convincing enough.

Space said recently that American scientists have analyzed all of the valley networks on Mars and the minerals left by the ancient delta regions. The results show that 29 delta regions once surrounded a huge ocean. The elevation of these deltas has not changed during the past 3.5 billion years.

'Our findings support some hypotheses about the existence of an ancient ocean on Mars. Besides, we also realized that before Mars also had a period of water circulation like the earth ', said geologist Gaetano Di Achille of the University of Colorado.

According to Di Achille and colleagues, ancient oceans can cover up to 36% of the Martian surface area. It covers an area of ​​more than 81 million square kilometers, larger than the Atlantic Ocean on Earth.

'Surprisingly, our results are consistent with many previous studies, although those studies use a completely different approach,' Di Achille said.

One question to be answered is: where is the water after the ancient ocean on Mars disappeared?

'We hope future Mars expeditions will help humans find the answer,' Di Achille said.

The study of Di Achille group was published in Nature Geoscience.