Phys Org
by Adrienne Berard, Pennsylvania State University
October 24, 2023
New analysis of data from the Curiosity rover reveals that much of the craters on Mars today could have once been habitable rivers.
“We’re finding evidence that Mars was likely a planet of rivers,” said Benjamin Cardenas, assistant professor of geosciences at Penn State and lead author on a new paper announcing the discovery. “We see signs of this all over the planet.”
In a study published in Geophysical Research Letters, the researchers used numerical models to simulate erosion on Mars over millennia and found that common crater formations—called bench-and-nose landforms—are most likely remnants of ancient riverbeds.