DID MARS ONCE HAVE A GREAT OCEAN?

New research tracking Mars extensive network of valleys and adds to the growing body of evidence suggesting the Red Planet once had an ocean covering a large portion of the northern hemisphere. In a new study, scientists from Northern Illinois University and the Lunar and Planetary Institute in Houston used an innovative computer program to produce a new and more detailed global map of the valley networks. The findings indicate the networks are more than twice as extensive as had been previously shown in the only other planet-wide map of the valleys forming a belt around the planet between the equator and mid-southern latitudes.

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WOW! i always thought there might have been life on mars at some point. In fact if there was life on an other planet in our own solar system kinda makes the fact that the universe is teeming with life even more plausible.

what if life on earth was seeded by Martians? Sounds like mission to mars doesn't it?

"All the evidence gathered by analyzing the valley network on the new map points to a particular climate scenario on early Mars," NIU Geography Professor Wei Luo said. "It would have included rainfall and the existence of an ocean covering most of the northern hemisphere, or about one-third of the planet's surface."

understanding what happened to the water on mars might give us insights into our own climatic changes here on earth.
I think the water evaporated when the planed died geologically or maybe even an asteroid impact.
Who knows? but i think we should find out if only to prevent such a thing from happening on earth.

There are definitely lakes on Mars so water is still there, but most of it may be gone like you said.

That being said, where theres water - theres life.

Originally posted by The_Zomar
There are definitely lakes on Mars so water is still there, but most of it may be gone like you said.

That being said, where theres water - theres life.

There are no lakes on Mars. The atmospheric pressure is too low for liquid water to exist for more than an instant before evaporating into water vapor.

There is water ice on Mars a couple of inches below the surface (at least at the North Pole). The "Mars Phoenix Lander" scraped the soil away to expose this ice -- however, the ice sublimated (turned to vapor) after being exposed for a little while. Normally, the weight of the soil is enough to keep it from sublimating.

Back to the OP...Yes, it seems that there could have once been a ocean on Mars a few billion years ago when the atmosphere was thicker, which would create an air pressure that would allow H2O to remain liquid and not evaporate away.

For all we know mars could be completely frozen water under its surface crust. The crust is made from volcanoes and space dust for billions of years. If you heat mars up it might even look like Earth once the water ice melts. What we can see is the tip of the iceberg.

Well, here's my two cents and questions:
How long ago did mars start drying up?
Was mars hit by a large body or did solar flares or gamma rays ravage the red planet?
Could mars have helped seed our planet with life?
I mean, if mars lost its water long ago could the water and certain elements have coalesced with earth, causing life to start or, if life was already Earth bound, at least push it to new levels?

This life is crazy, as much as we've accomplished in this 'modern era' we are still at our infancy. I am grateful that the minds of science are abounding, yet there are probably so many theories akin to the flat earth that will probably prove rounded as our intellectual consciousness increases.

Exciting times are endless when there's always something more to learn.

I do not think it took any great amount of research to figure out Mars had huge bodies of water at one time or another. All one has to do is look at the photography to see that there were at one time or another massive flows of water on the surface. If you look at the Cydonia area it is very evident.

As far as Mars seeding life on Earth, I think it could have gone either way.
The geologists can make all the pronouncements they want about what the Earth or Mars were like let say 1 Billion years ago...but they really are only guessing. There could have been an advanced civilization on either planet..that lasted for 10 or 20 or 30 million years...and ALL evidence of their existence could be totally erased by now.

It is obvious that both Mars and the Moon currently have ancient ruins and anyone who can't see that just has a totally closed mind and cannot accept the fact of life anywhere but here.

The thing I have realized recently is that I never see any comments about the ravages of TIME in regards to the planets. We acknowledge the Earth is about 4.5 billion years old... People scratch their head and wonder how the occasional item of obviously intelligent design is found hundreds of feet underground embedded in coal, or rock. The answer is easy.. there are most likely the remains of entire civilizations buried over hundreds of millions of years by geologic activity. Life literally could have been totally wiped off the Earth several times only to reappear again. There could have been civilizations existent here that make ours look like we are still living in the stone age (not such a difficult concept considering the stupidity we currently live in).

I think we are going to in the very near future find out a LOT more about these things. I do sense massive changes coming in this area and I hope I will still be around to see them.

Originally posted by Xeven
For all we know mars could be completely frozen water under its surface crust. The crust is made from volcanoes and space dust for billions of years. If you heat mars up it might even look like Earth once the water ice melts. What we can see is the tip of the iceberg.

Back in 2003, the Mars Odyssey Orbiter detected large amouts of water (probably sub-surface) at the upper latitudes and close to the poles by using it's Gamma Ray Spectrometer. Lats year, the Phoenix lander confirmed what Mars Odyssey detected by digging in the soil and finding water-ice.

The Mars Odyssey also used the Gamma Ray Spectrometer to look for water at the lower latitudes and closer to the equator, but found far less. There could be a lot of water locked up somewhere in Mars, but most of the "near-surface" water seems to be in the form of ice just under the soil near both poles.

Please be informed that this is a duplicate thread, re-posting information discussed elsewhere...

Dated November 23, 5:52pm
Older Article HERE

(whereas this was created November 24 at 7:29am)

I am not being snide or an ass... I am just doing my part to draw attention to the multitude of duplicate threads floating about. I am not a mod, nor do I try to pretend that I am; as such, I cannot ask you to post on the already existing thread.

reply to post by The Soothsayer


Sorry about that my bad. i guess i should have spent more time searching for duplicates. However in my defence the search terms were a little different and this is from a different article. Although the topics are same. Sorry