Nasa finds evidence of a vast ancient ocean on Mars

The Guardian & Observer ^ | March 5, 2015 | Ian Sample

[2ndDivisionVet]

An artist’s impression of the ancient ocean on Mars, which lasted for billions of years more than was previously thought.

A massive ancient ocean once covered nearly half of the northern hemisphere of Mars making the planet a more promising place for alien life to have gained a foothold, Nasa scientists say.

The huge body of water spread over a fifth of the planet’s surface, as great a portion as the Atlantic covers the Earth, and was a mile deep in places. In total, the ocean held 20 million cubic kilometres of water, or more than is found in the Arctic Ocean, the researchers found.

Unveiled by Nasa on Thursday, the compelling evidence for the primitive ocean adds to an emerging picture of Mars as a warm and wet world in its youth, which trickled with streams, winding river deltas, and long-standing lakes, soon after it formed 4.5bn years ago.

The view of the planet’s ancient history radically re-writes what many scientists believed only a decade ago. Back then, flowing water was widely considered to have been a more erratic presence on Mars, gushing forth only rarely, and never forming long-standing seas and oceans.....

[WhiskeyX]

“Ridiculous — a decade ago many scientists didn’t believe that Mars was dry, and this particular view doesn’t radically rewrite anything, because it’s a regurgitation of an old fantasy, reaching back at least as far as Schiaparelli and Lowell.”

It certainly is not a “fantasy” in any respect. It is solid evidence of the old seas on Mars. If you want to say otherwise, you need to support the claim with an explanation of how nearly all of the other large bodies of the Solar System acquired enough water to fill sea basins with water, but Mars did not.

[rawcatslyentist]

>"For Mars to ever have been warm enough to make that possible, the Earth would have been turned into a piece of charcoal."

Or maybe crossing orbital paths, and occasional swapped orbits over the long millennia. That could explain the ice ages, and Noah's flood.