China's Zhurong Rover Discovers Ancient Shoreline Deposits on Mars

Key facts

• China's Zhurong Mars rover, a component of the Tianwen-1 mission, has identified subsurface structures resembling sandy beach deposits on the planet.
• The findings, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), are based on ground-penetrating radar data from the Utopia Planitia region.
• The Zhurong rover landed in Utopia Planitia in 2021, an area believed to have once contained the Deuteronilus Ocean.
• The radar penetrated up to 80 metres below the surface, detecting layered sedimentary structures that slope upward, similar to coastal deposits on Earth.
• The study suggests these formations were created by wave action during the Late Hesperian period, approximately 3.5 to 4 billion years ago.
• The presence of these shoreline deposits indicates that Mars once possessed a thicker atmosphere and a warmer climate to maintain a stable liquid ocean.
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