14 DAY TRIAL // Researcher Giovanni Leone with the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology believes that, contrary to previous claims, the equatorial valleys and channels that are visible on the surface of Mars were not created by liquid water, but by lava flows.
In a recent paper, the specialist details that, after analyzing thousands of images provided by the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter spacecraft, he found that about 90% of the floors of these valleys and channels appear to be covered by lava or lava-related landslides.
As detailed in the Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research, this indicates that, rather than being created by liquid water, equatorial canyon-like scars on the surface of the Red Planet were instead birthed by lava originating from the Tharsis plateau.
Specifically, the research believes that fresh lava that hit the surface following a series of volcanic eruptions created the valleys and channels, which were later made wider and deeper by liquid rock flowing through them, Phys Org informs.
Provided that Giovanni Leone is right, this means that future Mars missions looking to find signs of life on the Red Planet might want to focus on exploring other regions where liquid water was in fact common sight millions of years ago, the same source explains.