A new scenario seeking to explain how Mars' putative oceans came and went over the last 4 billion years implies that the oceans formed several hundred million years earlier and were not as deep as once thought.
The proposal by geophysicists at the University of California, Berkeley, links the existence of oceans early in Mars history to the rise of the solar system's largest volcanic system, Tharsis, and highlights the key role played by global warming in allowing liquid water to exist on Mars.
"Volcanoes may be important in creating the conditions for Mars to be wet," said Michael Manga, a UC Berkeley professor of earth and planetary science and senior author of a paper appearing in Nature this week and posted online March 19.
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