Islamabad, Jan 27: Researchers have uncovered two sets of ancient wave ripples on Mars, offering compelling evidence of past bodies of water that once existed on the Red Planet. These wave ripples, which are small undulations in sandy lakebeds formed by wind-driven water, suggest that Mars once had shallow lakes that were exposed to the Martian atmosphere, challenging some previous climate models that speculated ice-covered water bodies.
The discovery, which is detailed in a paper published in Science Advances, indicates that these ripples formed about 3.7 billion years ago, a time when Mars is thought to have had a warmer and denser atmosphere capable of supporting liquid water. The ripples provide one of the clearest signs of ancient standing water, a crucial clue for understanding the planet’s climate history and its potential to support microbial life.
The team of scientists, led by John Grotzinger and Michael Lamb from Caltech, used computer models to analyze the shape and size of the ripples. These small ripples, only 6 millimeters high and spaced 4 to 5 centimeters apart, could only have been formed in shallow lakes less than 2 meters deep. Lamb’s models suggest that the lakes where these ripples formed were small and shallow, with the presence of wind further influencing their formation.
Read More: Massive Wildfire Near Los Angeles Grows to 9,400 Acres
This period, approximately 3.7 billion years ago, is crucial because it marks an era when Mars was transitioning to a drier state. The presence of liquid water for such an extended period opens up the possibility that microbial life could have existed during that time, providing a new window for habitability on Mars.
The wave ripples were first discovered by NASA’s Curiosity rover in 2022 in the Gale Crater region of Mars. One set of ripples was found at the Prow outcrop, located in a region that once contained wind-blown dunes. The second set, located in the Amapari Marker Band, suggests the presence of a deeper lake, providing evidence of multiple episodes of liquid water on Mars over a span of time.
The discovery of these ripples offers significant insight into Mars’s ancient climate. According to Grotzinger, the findings mark an important step in understanding the planet’s paleoclimate, particularly in the search for ancient lakes that were free of ice, a critical milestone in the quest to explore Mars’s potential for past life.
