valleys Archives

January 17, 2024January 17, 2024 by Evan Gough

Early Mars Climate was Complex, with Streams Flowing Intermittently for Millions of Years

This figure from new research shows an unnamed river valley network on Mars. By dating the craters in the image, a researcher at the Planetary Science Institute was able to determine when the river channels were formed. Image Credit: MOLA MEGDR, NASA/USGS; THEMIS mosaic, ASU/NASA/USGS; CTX, NASA/MSSS.

There’s overwhelming evidence that Mars was once wet and warm. Rivers flowed across its surface and carved intricate channel systems revealed by our orbiters. Expansive oceans even larger than Earth’s may have covered a third of its surface. Then something happened: Mars lost its atmosphere, cooled down, and surface water disappeared.

August 6, 2020August 6, 2020 by Evan Gough

Martian Features Were Carved by Glaciers, not Flowing Rivers

Orbiters are giving us a chance to study the surface of Mars closely, and some of the features that pop to prominence are dry river channels. There are over 10,000 of them. But a new study suggests that glaciers on ancient Mars are responsible for many of them.

According to the study, those glaciers and the water flowing under them are resonsible for carving out some of those riverbeds, rather than free-flowing rivers.