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New Evidence of Ancient Oceans on Mars

NASA's Mars Odyssey orbiter reveals evidence of ancient Martian oceans, suggesting Mars once had vast frozen seas.

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New data from NASA's Mars Odyssey orbiter supports the long-debated theory that Mars once (or twice) had vast frozen oceans on its surface. The location of certain mineral deposits suggests massive erosion and ancient shorelines. A group of researchers now believes Mars had at least two oceans - one about three and a half billion years ago that was 20 times the size of the Mediterranean and a smaller one about two billions years ago.

"These were not like the oceans we know," says [researcher Victor] Baker. "These were transient bodies that existed long enough to accumulate sediment", but were not present for billions of years of geologic history, as Earth's oceans have been [New Scientist].

The Mars Odyssey orbiter identified the mineral deposits using a gamma-ray spectrometer, which

can detect elements a third of a metre below Mars's surface. It found enriched potassium, thorium and iron, lying in shoreline-type ...

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