Today , Mars is a arctic reddened desert , but there was a time when the entire satellite had an active water system cycle . And according to unexampled research , that period lasted longer than previously thought .
A team of investigator led by Sharon Wilson , from the Smithsonian Institution and the University of Virginia , discovered that lakes and streams continued to feed on the Red Planet for over a billion years after a well - document epoch of pie-eyed precondition . This determination could be crucial in our understanding of Mars and the potential for life history there .
" We discovered vale that carried H2O into lake basins , " said Wilson in astatement . " Several lake basins take and overflowed , indicating there was a considerable amount of water on the landscape painting during this time . ”
The findings , reported in theJournal of Geophysical Research Planets , hash out stream - flows and associated lake that could have been seasonal . They estimated the years of the region by expect at the act of craters and if the pee feature were there before or after the impacts .
The team estimate that these valleys and lake were formed between 2 and 3 billion years ago , long after Mars is consider to have fall behind its ambience and become cold . Although the finding indicates flowing water , this is consistent with a frozen Mars .
" The rate at which pee flow through these vale is coherent with overflow from thaw Baron Snow of Leicester , " Wilson said . " These were n’t rushing rivers . They have childlike drainage patterns and did not mold deep or complex system like the ancient vale networks from early Mars . "
These eccentric of vale look in vast mid - latitude regions both north and south of the equator . These shallow vale were part of a orbicular cycle of weewee rather than a local organization .
Our exploration of Mars requires understanding of the geological epochs of the Red Planet and how piss mold this now inhospitable environment . A lot of clew point to a water - rich world in the upstage past , and perhaps it was like this long enough for some lifeforms to evolve .
