NASA’s Perseverance Rover Captures Photos of Ancient Martian Flood Evidence
The recent release of photos from NASA’s Perseverance rover has provided clear evidence that the ancient Martian environment was not only humid, but also experienced powerful floods. The images show boulders covering Jezero Crater, suggesting that powerful floods washed boulders into this dried-up river delta billions of years ago, indicating that Mars used to be filled with water.
About 3.5 billion years ago, large amounts of water flowed through the flat Isidis Planitia on Mars. Sometimes, the water flow was fast and strong enough to break through the crater walls and transport boulders to the crater for accumulation.
The Perseverance rover recently used the Mastcam-Z camera to take a mosaic photo of the “Castell Henllys” site on Mars, capturing an area about 100 meters away. The photo shows a large number of round boulders scattered on the surface, indicating that these boulders were washed into the Jezero Crater by strong floods billions of years ago.
Perseverance’s main mission includes searching for potential signs of past life on Mars, and while there is no evidence yet, the Jezero Crater, which once had streams and a 35-kilometer-wide lake, could have been a good place for life to thrive if microorganisms evolved on Mars.
In addition to searching for signs of past life, Perseverance is also working to collect original samples from the Martian surface, which will be sealed and sent back to Earth for in-depth analysis in the future.
The exploration and discoveries made by the Perseverance rover continue to provide valuable insights into the ancient Martian environment and the potential for past life on the red planet.