Mars' Ancient Ocean: Evidence Found in Flat Coastal Shelf

0:00It's April 20th. This is Canada News Today, AI-powered stories from your city. Scientists think Mars once had a massive ocean covering nearly one-third of the planet, which dried up billions of years ago and left behind a flat, coastal shelf like the ring and a drain bathtub. This new study in nature points to that band of land as key evidence in the debate over Mars' watery past. Researchers ran computer models drying out Earth's oceans to spot lasting features, then checked Mars data from NASA's Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter. They found a similar flat zone, wrapping around the northern lowlands, though not a perfect match. Back in the 1970s, Viking missions spotted possible shorelines, but those have been debated because they don't hold steady elevation. Maybe warped by volcanoes, rivers, deltas, and lake beds already show water flowed, yet no agreement on a full ocean. China's Zhurong rover in 2021 found ancient beach layers there, and NASA's insight hints

1:00at underground water enough for another ocean. Mars lost most surface water as its atmosphere thinned two billion years ago or so. The European Space Agency's Rosalind Franklin rover, launching late 2028 for 2030 landing, could drill and confirm this. Shelf. It'll help explain Mars' shift from wet world to cold desert, and if life ever had a