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New Research Suggests Ancient Ocean on Mars

Hidden layers of rock below the surface of Mars "strongly suggest" the presence of an ancient ocean, according to an international team of scientists including researchers at Penn State. From the university's announcement: The new research offers the clearest evidence yet that the planet once c...

The Zhurong rover landed on Mars in 2021 in an area known as Utopia Planitia and sent back data on the geology of its surroundings in search of signs of ancient water or ice. When the team reviewed radar data, it revealed a similar layered structure to beaches on Earth: formations called "foreshore deposits" that slope downwards towards oceans and form when sediments are carried by tides and waves into a large body of water. The study also provided new information on the evolution of the Martian environment, suggesting that a life-friendly warm and wet period spanned potentially tens of millions of years.

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