The ancient rivers of Mars were twice as wide as those of the Earth, according to a study

Mars is terribly cold and dry now, with a thin atmosphere. But today's rivers were twice as wide as the Earth, and they sank later than expected in the history of the planet, researchers said Wednesday University of Chicago.

The new discoveries complicate the situation for other scientists who are trying to understand the history of the planet's climate – and its radical transition from moisture to dewatering, University researchers said.

"We infer that climate-related runoff, both intense and distributed around the world, persisted late in the history of the March dry-up," the study says.

Edwin Kite, an assistant professor of geophysical sciences at the university, said in a statement: "It is already difficult to explain the rivers or lakes from the information we have. This makes a difficult problem even more difficult. Kite was the principal author of a study on the Martian Rivers published Wednesday in the journal Science Advances.

An intense current may have occurred in the river channels between 3.6 and 1 billion years ago, and even after that, researchers have discovered.

Kite and his colleagues studied more than 200 ancient Martian river beds, which provided clues about the water that flows through them and the climate that produced them. They examined factors such as the width and slope of the riverbeds and the size of the gravel, the statement said.

For those trying to understand the ancient climate of Mars, the results provide insights, said Kite, noting that the size of the rivers means that the water runs constantly, not just at noon. This suggests that the average daytime temperatures were above the freezing point, indicating a strong greenhouse effect.

"The need for a strong greenhouse effect is obvious. However, most of the existing models of global climate change in Mars do not meet this challenge, "says the study.

If river discharge dates are accurate, it suggests that the Mars atmosphere has disappeared faster than expected or that precipitation has continued in low-level conditions, researchers said.

"The existence of these rivers is a challenge for models of global climate change," says the study.

A little water still persists on the planet today. A study published in July revealed that a saltwater lake had been detected beneath the ice cap in the south of the planet.