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BERLIN (AP) – Scientists say images of craters taken by European and American space probes show it might have been a planet-wide system of underground lakes on March.
Data collected by NASA and ESA probes orbiting the red planet provide the first geological evidence for an ancient Martian groundwater system, according to a study by researchers in Italy and the Netherlands published in the Journal of Geophysical Research.
This May 12, 2016 image provided by NASA shows the planet Mars. (NASA / ESA / Hubble Heritage Team – STScI / AURA, Bell J. – ASU, Wolff – Space Science Institute via AP)
Francesco Salese, one of the scientists involved, said in an email that the findings confirm earlier models and smaller-scale studies, and that the underground lakes may be connected to each other.
The concept of water on Mars has long fascinated scientists because of the possibility that the planet may have existed. Patches of ice previously spotted on March provide water for the arid world.
Researchers said for channels, pool-shaped valleys and fan-shaped sediment deposits seen in the middle ages of deep-sea craters in March 'northern hemisphere would have needed water to form.
Co-author Gian Gabriele Ori said some scientists may have been connected to the underground lakes.
The researchers also saw signs of such a clay that would have required long periods of exposure to water to form. Ralf Jaumann, a planetary scientist at the German Aerospace Center who was not directly involved in the study, said such sites are a good starting point for future Mars landers to search for signs of ancient life.
However, Jack Mustard, a professor of geological sciences at Brown University, was also asked about the paper's claims, saying he did not see evidence of underground lakes in the data.
"But I'm probably just a skeptical Martian," he added.
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