- Sputnik International
World
Get the latest news from around the world, live coverage, off-beat stories, features and analysis.

Waters of Mars: Researchers Discover Evidence of Ancient Tsunamis on Red Planet

© NASA . The Hubble Heritage TeamResearchers believe they have discovered water on Mars
Researchers believe they have discovered water on Mars - Sputnik International
Subscribe
Evidence points to an ancient tsunami on Mars that cataclysmically altered the young planet approximately 3 billion years ago. This lays credence to the theory that Mars was once a watery world.

In a paper published in the Journal of Geophysical Research, the international team detail their discovery of what they believe to be a tsunami impact crater. Proponents of the Wet Mars theory have been searching for such a crater for years, without success.

"We found typical tsunami deposits along the dichotomy between the northern hemisphere and southern hemisphere of Mars. It supports that there was, at that time, a northern ocean," study lead and professor of geophysics with Université Paris-Sud Dr. François Costard told the BBC.

Water flows on Mars - Sputnik International
World
New Study Claims Mars Had Flowing Water Long After 'Wet Era'

A thumbprint-shaped series of ridges was discovered on the Martian surface, which has previously been attributed to a mudslide or glaciers. However, it may have also have been caused by a tsunami — and a nearby crater corroborates that theory.

When a sufficiently large asteroid hits water, it can create two tsunamis: one caused by the displacement of water when the asteroid hits the ocean's surface and another caused by the asteroid striking the ocean floor.

The researchers suggest that the Lomonosov Crater, a 93-mile long formation named in honor of the 18th century Russian polymath Mikhail Lomonosov, and the thumbprint formation are evidence of the first and second tsunamis, respectively. A numerical model corroborates their findings. They also contend that there is no feasible explanation for the ridges in light of the new evidence.

The Wet Mars theory holds that around 3.8 billion years ago, nearly half of the rusty red world was covered by ocean. Bit by bit, the water turned to vapor and escaped through Mars' thin atmosphere, leaving the planet in its present desiccated state.

NASA's Curiosity rover has found the first evidence of liquid water on Mars, a significant step in the search for past life on the red planet. - Sputnik International
Curiosity Rover Finds Purple Rocks on Mars

"The possibility that a large ocean once occupied the Martian northern plains is one of the most important and controversial hypotheses to have originated from the exploration of Mars," the team wrote in the study. 

"We mapped lobate deposits, which appear and are potential tsunami deposits associated with the existence of a former ocean. We identified the most probable crater sources of the proposed tsunami deposits from a numerical modeling."

Newsfeed
0
To participate in the discussion
log in or register
loader
Chats
Заголовок открываемого материала