Shocking images on Mars

Glacier remnants on Mars suggest that some form of water may still exist on the planet .

Salt deposits, shown in light blue, where glaciers likely once existed near the Martian equator. (Photo: NASA MRO HiRISE/CRISM False Color Composite).

Scientists have discovered remarkable traces among mineral deposits near the planet's equatorial region. Sediments there often contain brightly colored sulfate salts.

When scientists looked closer, they recognized features of the glacier, including ridges called moraines - pieces of material deposited or displaced by the glacier's movement. The team also discovered fissures, or deep wedge-shaped holes - which often form inside glaciers.

The discovery was announced on March 15 at the 54th Lunar and Planetary Science Conference in Woodlands, Texas, according to CNN.

Dr Pascal Lee, senior planetary scientist with the SETI Institute and the Mars Institute, said: 'What we found was not ice, but a salt deposit with detailed morphological features of a river ice'.

Researchers believe the glacier is 6km long and about 4km wide, with an altitude of 1.3 to 1.7km. Glaciers are believed to have existed during the Amazonian period, a geologic period on Mars that began 2.9 billion years ago and is still ongoing.

The researchers don't know whether any ice remains beneath the sediment and they plan to find out, and if so, whether any other ice areas exist nearby.