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Chinese Mars rover finds evidence of ancient sea’s shoreline
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margin-bottom-1"> <nav aria-label="breadcrumbs" class="rank-math-breadcrumb"><p><a href="https://cosmosmagazine.com">Cosmos</a><span class="separator"> » </span><a href="/space/exploration/">Space Exploration</a></p></nav> <section class="article-container cols-4 md-cols-1 cols-gap-1 padding-bottom-4"> <article class="col col-span-3 post-315486 post type-post status-publish format-standard has-post-thumbnail hentry category-exploration category-astrobiology category-astronomy category-chemistry category-science category-earth category-earth-sciences category-news category-oceans category-robotics category-space category-water tag-astronomy tag-china tag-mars tag-mars-rover tag-zhurong"> <header class="rows rows-gap"> <h1 class="entry-title row">Chinese Mars rover finds evidence of ancient sea’s shoreline</h1> <div class="row primary-image has-featured-image " data-featured-image="PIA00196medium.jpg"> </div> </header> <div class="entry-content cols-6 md-cols-1 cols-gap-1 margin-top-1"> <div class="content-left-sidebar cols-1 col"> <section class="contributors md-cols-1 rows-gap"> <div class="row post-date"> <span class="published-date">November 8, 2024</span> </div> <a href="https://cosmosmagazine.com/contributor/evrim-yazgin/" class="author row md-hide"> <img src="data:image/svg+xml;base64,PHN2ZyB4bWxucz0iaHR0cDovL3d3dy53My5vcmcvMjAwMC9zdmciIHZpZXdCb3g9IjAgMCA0MDAgNDAwIiB3aWR0aD0iNDAwIiBoZWlnaHQ9IjQwMCIgZGF0YS11PSIlMkZ3cC1jb250ZW50JTJGdXBsb2FkcyUyRjIwMjIlMkYwOCUyRlRoZS1TY2llbmNlLUV4Y2hhbmdlLTI0LmpwZyIgZGF0YS13PSI0MDAiIGRhdGEtaD0iNDAwIiBkYXRhLWJpcD0iIj48L3N2Zz4=" data-spai="1" alt="Evrim Yazgin" width="200" /><noscript data-spai="1"><img src="https://cdn.shortpixel.ai/spai/q_lossy+ret_img+to_auto/cosmosmagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/The-Science-Exchange-24.jpg" data-spai-egr="1" alt="Evrim Yazgin" width="200" /></noscript> <div class="bio"> <h3>Evrim Yazgin</h3> <p>Cosmos science journalist</p> </div> </a> <div id="author-name" class="hide"> <a href="https://cosmosmagazine.com/contributor/evrim-yazgin/" class="bio"> By Evrim Yazgin </a> </div> <div class="favourite__wrapper row cols"> <button class="showDialog simplefavorite-button" aria-label="Favourite button"> </button> </div> </section> </div> <div class="primary-content cols-1 col-span-5 col"> <div class="flexible-content "> <div class="copy"> <p>Sedimentary mineral deposits analysed by the Chinese Zhurong Mars rover appear to have been left by an ancient sea 3.5 billion years ago.</p> <figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img decoding="async" fetchpriority="high" width="1200" height="675" src="data:image/svg+xml;base64,PHN2ZyB4bWxucz0iaHR0cDovL3d3dy53My5vcmcvMjAwMC9zdmciIHZpZXdCb3g9IjAgMCAxMjAwIDY3NSIgd2lkdGg9IjEyMDAiIGhlaWdodD0iNjc1IiBkYXRhLXU9IiUyRndwLWNvbnRlbnQlMkZ1cGxvYWRzJTJGMjAyNCUyRjExJTJGUElBMDAxOTZtZWRpdW0uanBnIiBkYXRhLXc9IjEyMDAiIGRhdGEtaD0iNjc1IiBkYXRhLWJpcD0iIj48L3N2Zz4=" data-spai="1" alt="Mars on black background" class="wp-image-315471" title="chinese mars rover finds evidence of ancient sea’s shoreline 1"><noscript data-spai="1"><img decoding="async" fetchpriority="high" width="1200" height="675" src="https://cdn.shortpixel.ai/spai/q_lossy+ret_img+to_auto/cosmosmagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/PIA00196medium.jpg" data-spai-egr="1" alt="Mars on black background" class="wp-image-315471" srcset="https://cdn.shortpixel.ai/spai/q_lossy+ret_img+to_auto/cosmosmagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/PIA00196medium.jpg 1200w, https://cdn.shortpixel.ai/spai/q_lossy+ret_img+to_auto/cosmosmagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/PIA00196medium-600x338.jpg 600w, https://cdn.shortpixel.ai/spai/q_lossy+ret_img+to_auto/cosmosmagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/PIA00196medium-768x432.jpg 768w, https://cdn.shortpixel.ai/spai/q_lossy+ret_img+to_auto/cosmosmagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/PIA00196medium-300x169.jpg 300w" sizes="(max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px" title="chinese mars rover finds evidence of ancient sea’s shoreline 1"></noscript><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">The lowland plains of Elysium and Utopia Planitiae are separated from the darker heavily cratered highlands by a broad escarpment in this image from NASA’s Viking Orbiter 1. Credit: NASA/JPL/USGS.</figcaption></figure> <p>Evidence is piling up that ancient <a href="https://cosmosmagazine.com/space/astronomy/ice-water-flow-ancient-mars/">Mars was a wet world</a> – at least temporarily.</p> <p>Zhurong’s findings supporting this theory are <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-024-75507-w" target="_blank" rel="noopener">published</a> in the journal <em>Scientific Reports</em>.</p> <p>The rover landed on Mars in <a href="https://cosmosmagazine.com/space/china-releases-first-sounds-of-zhurongs-mars-mission/">May 2021</a>. Since then, it has been analysing deposits on the surface of the Red Planet in the Vastitas Borealis – a low-lying plain in the northern hemisphere.</p> <div class="in-content-area related-box-wrapper content-third content-right margin-bottom-1"> <div class="gradient-title">Read More</div> <ul class="related-box article-listing"> <li class="cols"> <div class="article article-post"> <a href="https://cosmosmagazine.com/space/astronomy/ice-water-flow-ancient-mars/" class="thumbnail ar-16-9" aria-label="Article link"> <span data-spai-bg-on="1" class="image" style="background-image: url(data:image/svg+xml;base64,PHN2ZyB4bWxucz0iaHR0cDovL3d3dy53My5vcmcvMjAwMC9zdmciIHZpZXdCb3g9IjAgMCAxMDY3IDYwMCIgd2lkdGg9IjEwNjciIGhlaWdodD0iNjAwIiBkYXRhLXU9Imh0dHBzJTNBJTJGJTJGY29zbW9zbWFnYXppbmUuY29tJTJGd3AtY29udGVudCUyRnVwbG9hZHMlMkYyMDI0JTJGMTElMkZNYXJzLWljZS1jYXAtcml2ZXIuanBnIiBkYXRhLXc9IjEwNjciIGRhdGEtaD0iNjAwIiBkYXRhLWJpcD0iIj48L3N2Zz4=)"></span> </a> <div class="article-content has-very-light-grey-background-color"> <a href="/space/astronomy/"> <span class="category space-color"> Astronomy </span> </a> <a href="https://cosmosmagazine.com/space/astronomy/ice-water-flow-ancient-mars/"> <h3>How water flowed on ancient Mars</h3> </a> </div> </div> </li> </ul> </div> <p>Previous research suggested that the materials in the region originated from flooding and marine sediments.</p> <a href="https://link.cosmosmagazine.com/OP59" class="newsletter-cta" data-device="mobile"> <img decoding="async" src="data:image/svg+xml;base64,PHN2ZyB4bWxucz0iaHR0cDovL3d3dy53My5vcmcvMjAwMC9zdmciIHZpZXdCb3g9IjAgMCAzMDAgMjUwIiB3aWR0aD0iMzAwIiBoZWlnaHQ9IjI1MCIgZGF0YS11PSIlMkZ3cC1jb250ZW50JTJGdXBsb2FkcyUyRjIwMjQlMkYwMyUyRldlZWtseS1DYXRjaHVwLTMwMHgyNTAtMS5wbmciIGRhdGEtdz0iMzAwIiBkYXRhLWg9IjI1MCIgZGF0YS1iaXA9IiI+PC9zdmc+" data-spai="1" alt="Newsletter" title="chinese mars rover finds evidence of ancient sea’s shoreline 2"><noscript data-spai="1"><img decoding="async" src="https://cdn.shortpixel.ai/spai/q_lossy+ret_img+to_auto/cosmosmagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/Weekly-Catchup-300x250-1.png" data-spai-egr="1" alt="Newsletter" title="chinese mars rover finds evidence of ancient sea’s shoreline 2"></noscript> </a> <p>The researchers used a mix of elevation data from the Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter and geochemical analysis from Zhurong. They estimated the surface ages at locations in the southern Utopia Planitia.</p> <div class="advert ad-in-content ad-mobile auh-250"><div id="adn-00000000001fc2ca-i0p0" style="display: none"></div></div> <p>Utopia Planitia is the largest impact crater in the whole solar system at about 3,300km in diameter – nearly the size of Australia from east coast to west coast. This means it covers about 6% of the Mars’s total surface area. The crater formed 4.3–4.1 billion years ago.</p> <p>The researchers found features such as troughs and sediment channels consistent with a nearshore zone. This suggests flooding about 3.68 billion years ago. In this scenario, a short-lived frozen ocean formed a coastline, with the ocean surface likely freezing and disappearing approximately 3.42 billion years ago.</p> <p>They say that the Zhurong rover won’t be able to travel north to verify these hypotheses. 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