As reported in this blog yesterday, a new study argues Mars has been in the grip of a "super-drought" for the latest 600 million years. Another new study, however, presents some of the best evidence yet that Mars boasted oceans billions of years ago.
Data from the ESA's Mars Express spacecraft suggests a large area of the lowlands in the northern hemisphere of Mars contains sedimentary material that is consistent with the makeup of an ocean floor. Previously, researchers had identified what looks to be ancient ocean shorelines on Mars.
The two new studies are not mutually exclusive. The supposed oceans would have existed, and disappeared, hundreds of millions or billions of years before the super-drought took hold.
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