Unusual mounds on Mars could help solve one of the Red Planet's biggest mysteries

More than 15,000 mounds rise into the sky from the lowlands of the planet Chrysa on Mars, located near the natural boundary line between the planet's southern and northern hemispheres. The geological features have long been of interest to scientists, who until now were unsure what created the mounds.

A new analysis of images and data collected by orbiting vehicles has shed light on their history. The findings show why there can be such a striking difference between the northern and southern hemispheres of the planet - there was water on the Red Planet, CNN Science writes.

The formations, which cover an area the size of Texas, can be seen in images taken by NASA and European Space Agency orbiters. The mounds act as time capsules that can help astronomers uncover the secrets of Mars' past.

"The mound consists of a series of layers, each of which is a record of a past event. The oldest are at the bottom and consist of rock that is about four billion years old. For a geologist, looking at these layers is like looking through the pages of a book - each one tells a story," says lead author Dr. Joe McNeil, a planetary scientist and doctoral student at the Natural History Museum in London.

Themounds are located near the future landing site of ESA's ExoMars Rosalind Franklin rover, which is expected to launch in 2028. There is a possibility that they will be explored by the rover, which will help to learn more about the history of water on the Red Planet and accurately identify resources for future human research.

Scientists have used images collected by orbiters orbiting Mars to gain insight into the geology of the mounds. The orbiters have sensors, cameras, and other scientific instruments that collect a range of data.

From a distance, the mounds appear similar to each other, but high-resolution images taken by the orbiters allowed scientists to zoom in and see the incredible diversity of the structure.

"Our findings show that water was present on both the surface and subsurface layers of this region over a geologic time period of 4 to 3.8 billion years ago," says McNeil, adding that the mounds were originally part of a highland, and consisted of hundreds of meters of clay-rich rock that formed in the presence of liquid water.

"Their erosion over hundreds of kilometers shows that the highlands extended much further north than they do today, which provides new insights into the ancient geography and hydrology of Mars," the scientist explains.

Clay-rich rock layers in the mounds indicate that there was a large amount of water on the surface of Mars, which reacted chemically with the rocks. Water, both in liquid and ice form, could have caused erosion by penetrating cracks in the rocks.

According to scientists, most of the evidence that Mars had rushing rivers and lakes has been destroyed, so it is now difficult to say what type of water caused the erosion.

"It's like trying to understand the plot of a book where most of the pages are missing and the rest are torn and faded. We can piece together some of the story, but most of it is left to interpretation," he adds.

However, robotic exploration of this region can determine whether the ocean ever existed and whether there could be life in it.

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