this post was submitted on 09 Jul 2025
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Scientists spot traces of 10,000 miles of rivers in area where many believed ‘there wasn’t any evidence for water’

Thousands of miles of ancient riverbeds have been discovered in the heavily cratered southern highlands of Mars, suggesting the red planet was once a far wetter world than scientists thought.

Researchers spotted geological traces of nearly 10,000 miles (16,000km) of ancient watercourses, believed to be more than 3bn years old, in high resolution images of the rugged landscape captured by Mars orbiters.

While some of the riverbeds are relatively short, others form networks that stretch for more than 100 miles. The widespread rivers were probably replenished by regular rain or snowfall in the region, researchers said.

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[–] N0t_5ure@lemmy.world 17 points 5 days ago (2 children)

Unlike Ben Shapiro's wife.

[–] fittedsyllabi@lemmy.world 2 points 5 days ago

What do you call it when you need extra Ben Shapiro? Mor Shapiro. #sorrynotsorry

[–] Deceptichum@quokk.au 2 points 5 days ago

Sorry what profession is she?

[–] givesomefucks@lemmy.world 10 points 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago)

While 10,000 miles of river sounds like a lot...

We've known for a while that Mars had oceans, and even glacier ice caps.

Maybe on this one specific area there wasn't direct evidence of water, but Mars would have had rain and thus rivers all over the globe.

So despite no direct evidence, it was a reasonable assumption to see riverways like this.

[–] QuankyDanks@lemmy.world 5 points 5 days ago