“Ancient Secrets of Mars: Scientists Discover a 4-Billion-Year-Old Beach That Could Rewrite Planetary History!”
Hai Liu/Guangzhou UniversityA diagram showing how a series of beach deposits would have formed in the distant past on Mars.
“Typically the radar picks up on even subtle changes in sediment size, which is probably what’s happening here,” study co-author Benjamin Cardenas of Penn State University told The Guardian.
According to Cardenas, the data also indicated that the beach seemed to shift position over time. The data showed a series of features dipping toward the north, which likely means the beach grew out into the ocean.
“It’s a simple structure, but it tells you there had to be tides, there had to be waves, there had to be a nearby river supplying sediment, and all these things had to be active for some extended period of time,” Cardenas said. Moreover, no other geological activity that could cause tilted features properly explains this data, leaving little room for other interpretations.
“We rule out volcanic, rivers, and wind-blown sand dunes. All of these are pretty commonly seen on Mars, but the structure just doesn’t fit any of them,” Cardenas added.
Implications For The Existence Of Extraterrestrial Life
He Zhu/Wikimedia CommonsThe surface of Mars photographed by the Zhurong rover.
While the idea of oceans and beaches on Mars existing billions of years ago may not initially seem that important to people who are alive today, these features could have larger implications for Mars’ habitability — and the search for extraterrestrial life.
“Mars expresses Earth-like geological features, seasonal cycles, and day–night rhythm making it a unique analog to the evolution of the Earth and informing the search for extraterrestrial life,” researchers wrote in the study. “Although the surface of present-day Mars is cold and dry, geological features such as valley networks, open- and closed-basin lakes, deltas, alluvial fans, pitted-cones, and sedimentary rocks support the prior existence of vast amounts of liquid water.”
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