A SINGLE large ocean once covered much of the northern half of Mars, supplied with water from a belt of rain-fed rivers, new research suggests.
Scientists have produced a new map showing that Martian valley networks are more than twice as extensive as prev-iously thought, indicating they were carved by rivers.
They are concentrated in a belt circling the planet’s equator and mid-southern latitudes.
Experts believe they mark the paths of rivers that once flowed from the planet’s southern highlands into a huge ocean. The evidence suggests that billions of years ago much of Mars had an “arid continental climate” similar to drier areas of the Earth. Such a wet period early in the planet’s history would have greatly increased the chances of life.
