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The Chinese Mars rover Zhuzhong has used radar to detect traces of an ancient beach that formed on the shores of the Martian ocean millions of years ago in the Utopia Plain on Mars. This discovery confirms that large bodies of water existed on the Red Planet for at least several million years, the University of Pennsylvania (UPenn) press service reported.
The very existence of these deposits suggests that a large part of Mars was subject to a long-term water cycle. This cycle would have contributed to the growth of this coastline and would have saturate it with deposits of sand and perhaps nutrients. Life on Earth emerged in these conditions, making such deposits one of the most promising regions for searching for traces of ancient life. UPenn Associate Professor Benjamin Cardenas
Thanks to the RoPeR radar, the rover recorded multilayered deposits consisting of sand and other small particles, several tens of meters thick. They were directed towards the Deuteronole line and tilted upwards at an angle of about 15 degrees, which makes them very similar to terrestrial sea and ocean beaches. In addition, scientists found traces of a coastal strip in the Martian sand deposits, which is periodically flooded during high tides and becomes visible during low tides.
Scientists say the thickness of these sandy deposits suggests that the ocean existed for several million years, suggesting that water has existed on Mars for a long time, raising the possibility that life could have existed on the planet.
