Did heavy rain give Mars its deep valleys?

Heavy rainfall may have formed the valley networks on earth that bear a strong resemblance to those in the earth.

Scientists have thought there must be enough cut channels into the subsoil, but the origins of the water have been a matter of debate for years.

Was it raining that caused streams and rivers to swell? Or did you go to earth volcanoes and seep out to form rivers? The two scenarios lead to completely different conclusions about the climatic history of the planet.

As reported in Science Advances a study of the mapped river valleys on Mars (rain) water. The researchers exclude the influence of groundwater or melt water from the soil as a dominant process for shaping these features.

There must have been sporadic heavy rainfall events on March over a prolonged period of time. Hansjörg Seybold, a physicist at the Institute for Terrestrial Ecosystems at ETH Zurich

That's how river valleys develop in arid regions on Earth. For example, in Arizona, researchers observed the same valley network patterns in a landscape where astronauts train for future Mars missions. Valleys in arid regions at a narrow angle

Because the branching angles on Mars are comparatively low, the influence of groundwater seepage on Mars can be ruled out, Seybold says.

River networks that re-emerging groundwater strongly affects, like in Florida, for example, in the United States (19659013)

Did you find this article helpful to the person you are looking for? In 1965, the atmosphere on earth was probably much more than 3.6 billion years ago.

In that period, the atmosphere on Mars may have been much denser than it is today. "Says Seybold.

One hypothesis suggests that the northern third of Mars was covered by an ocean at that time. Water evaporated, condensed around the volcanoes of the highlands to the south of the ocean, and led to heavy rainfall there. As a result, rivers formed, which left the traces that can be observed on Mars today.

Flowing sand, not water, left 'dark streaks' on Mars

The big question: Where did the water go? [19659002"It'slikelythatmostofitevaporatedintospace"Seyboldsays"TracesofitmightstillremaininthevicinityofMarsbutthisisaquestionforafuturespacemission"

Source: ETH Zurich