Valles Marineris flood may have raised ancient Martian sea level by 34 metres: study
A new study published in Icarus suggests that a massive ancient flood from Mars' Valles Marineris canyon system significantly raised the planet's global sea levels. Researchers used hydraulic modeling to estimate that the event released over 1,200 trillion cubic meters of water.
Why it matters
Understanding the hydrological history of Mars provides critical insights into the planet's potential for past habitability and its geological evolution.
The recent catastrophic flash floods in Nepal, apparently triggered by the collapse of a glacier rock mass that sent ice, rock, and sediment downstream, causing a sudden surge of water and debris in the river, highlight the destructive power of such events.
A vastly larger outburst flood occurred on Mars during the Late Hesperian to Early Amazonian, when the breaching of paleolakes in Valles Marineris, the largest canyon system in the Solar System, unleashed a massive deluge. The flood, which originated in the ancient canyon system, is estimated to have released 1,245 trillion cubic metres of water and may have raised the global mean level of the hypothesised ancient Martian ocean by about 34 metres, according to a new study published online in the peer-reviewed journal Icarus .
The researchers estimate that an equivalent discharge on Earth would have inundated about 3.6 million sq km of land.
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