28-02-2025, 07:23 AM
The buried beach could represent the first evidence of a true ocean from Mars' ancient past, and its presence means the Red Planet must have had an ocean for millions of years — long enough to leave behind the thick layers of sand Zhurong's radar measured. And that ocean must have been fed by rivers, the scientists reason, as those rivers would have dumped sediment into the ocean. Waves would eventually have spread that resulting sediment along the shore, forming a beach that'd have been strikingly familiar to us.
"Shorelines are great locations to look for evidence of past life," Benjamin Cardenas, a geoscientist at Pennsylvania State University and co-author of the study, said in a statement. "It's thought that the earliest life on Earth began at locations like this, near the interface of air and shallow water." (It's not known exactly where or how life on Earth began, but shorelines like this one are a possibility, along with hydrothermal vents on the deep ocean floor.)
The discovery was a stroke of geological luck; Zhurong's beach would probably have eroded away into something unrecognizable over the last 3.5 billion years if it hadn't been buried beneath those 33 feet of rocky, dusty debris from asteroid impacts, volcanoes and dust storms.
"This strengthens the case for past habitability in this region on Mars," Hai Liu, a professor with the School of Civil Engineering and Transportation at Guangzhou University, a co-author of the study and a core member of the science team for the Tianwen-1 mission, which included China's first Mars rover, Zhurong, said in the statement.
https://www.space.com/the-universe/mars/...bitability
"Shorelines are great locations to look for evidence of past life," Benjamin Cardenas, a geoscientist at Pennsylvania State University and co-author of the study, said in a statement. "It's thought that the earliest life on Earth began at locations like this, near the interface of air and shallow water." (It's not known exactly where or how life on Earth began, but shorelines like this one are a possibility, along with hydrothermal vents on the deep ocean floor.)
The discovery was a stroke of geological luck; Zhurong's beach would probably have eroded away into something unrecognizable over the last 3.5 billion years if it hadn't been buried beneath those 33 feet of rocky, dusty debris from asteroid impacts, volcanoes and dust storms.
"This strengthens the case for past habitability in this region on Mars," Hai Liu, a professor with the School of Civil Engineering and Transportation at Guangzhou University, a co-author of the study and a core member of the science team for the Tianwen-1 mission, which included China's first Mars rover, Zhurong, said in the statement.
https://www.space.com/the-universe/mars/...bitability