Mars study shows oceans of water bubbled up from below

NASA image revealing formations consistent with water outbursts carving channels and laying terraced deposits.

by Staff Writers

Paris (AFP) Feb 20, 2008

Fan-shaped deltas at the edge of huge basins scattered across Mars were probably formed by a titanic influx of water, gushing from the bowels of the Red Planet, according to study released Wednesday.

The origin and morphology of the deltas, studded with curious step-like terraces, have perplexed scientists since they were first observed three years ago.

Today the surface of Mars is bone dry, but a growing body of evidence suggests as much as a third of its surface was at one time covered with oceans.

But scientists have differed -- sometimes sharply -- as to exactly where the water came from.

A quartet of researchers at Utrecht University in the Netherlands led by Erin Kraal, using satellite images and topographical data from the Mars Orbiter, hypothesised that these unique formations could only have originated from a single, massive basin-filling event.

Their study, published in Nature, also concluded that the water rushed in over a period measured in tens of years, not millions, as many scientists had thought.

And not just a little bit, either.

Full article here:

http://www.marsdaily.com/reports/Mars_study_shows_oceans_of_water_bubbled_up_from_below_999.html