ArticleProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America2025
Ancient ocean coastal deposits imaged on Mars.
Article in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 8 papers.
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Who cites it
8 citing papers in PubMed.
- Exploration of extraterrestrial biosignatures and planetary habitability: A prospect.Fundamental research · 2026Review
- Manganese (Hydr)oxides record the dynamic evolution of a million-year Hesperian Ocean in Utopia Planitia, Mars.Nature communications · 2026Article
- Article
- Ground penetrating radar observations of ancient large-scale deltaic structures in Jezero crater, Mars.Science advances · 2026Article
- Low-Frequency Data Processing and Characteristics of Tianwen-1 Mars Rover Penetrating Radar.Scientific data · 2026Article
- Water Versus Land on Temperate Rocky Planets.Space science reviews · 2026Review
- Large drainage systems produced half of Mars' ancient river sediment.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2025Article
- Multipolarized radar reveals shallow subsurface structure and middle-late Amazonian aqueous activity in Utopia Planitia, Mars.National science review · 2025Article
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Authors and funding
12 authors.
Funding
Abstract
The northern lowlands of early Mars could have contained a significant quantity of liquid water. However, the ocean hypothesis remains controversial due to the lack of conclusive evidence from the Martian subsurface. We use data from the Zhurong Rover Penetrating Radar on the southern Utopia Planitia to identify subsurface dipping reflectors indicative of an ancient prograding shoreline. The reflectors dip unidirectionally with inclinations in the range 6° to 20° and are imaged to a thickness of 10 to 35 m along an uninterrupted 1.3 km northward shoreline-perpendicular traverse. The consistent dip inclinations, absence of dissection by fluvial channels along the extended traverse, and low permittivity of the sediments are consistent with terrestrial coastal deposits-and discount fluvial, aeolian, or magmatic origins favored elsewhere on Mars. The structure, thickness, and length of the section support voluminous supply of onshore sediments into a large body of water, rather than a merely localized and short-lived melt event. Our findings not only provide support for the existence of an ancient Martian ocean in the northern plains but also offer crucial insights into the evolution of the ancient Martian environment.
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