Mars was full of rivers. An optimistic picture of old life

In the study, published in the journal Geophysical Research Letters, scientists used special computer models to simulate the erosion of the surface of Mars over thousands of years.

They found that the common crater formations there are likely remains Ancient riverbeds.

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This experiment was the first to map Martian soil erosion using these models, which were created using a combination of satellite data, images from the Curiosity rover, and 3D scans of stratigraphy — layers of rock that were deposited beneath the surface of Mars over millions of years. Years.

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This allowed them to determine how many more rivers flow on the Red Planet than previously expected. – We see signs of this all over the planet. This explains it A more optimistic picture of ancient life on Mars – said one of the authors of the study, Benjamin Cardenas.

The period during which the rivers existed has been called the “habitable period in the history of Mars.”

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By designing a computer model, Cárdenas and his team found a new use for… 25-year stratigraphic surveys. As the study’s author explained, surveys of the seafloor in the Gulf of Mexico collected by oil companies constitute Perfect comparison with Mars.

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When scientists ran the simulation, the Martian landscape looked almost identical to the landforms observed by the Curiosity rover inside Gale Crater.