Photo: Nasa handout via ReutersWashington: Heavy rain on Mars may have reshaped the red planet’s impact craters and carved out river-like channels on its surface billions of years ago, a new study has found. Changes in the atmosphere on Mars made it rain harder and harder, which had a similar effect on the planet’s surface as seen on Earth, scientists said. Although there is a growing body of evidence that there was once water on Mars, it does not rain there today. In the new study, Robert Craddock and Ralph Lorenz from Johns Hopkins University in the US show that there was rainfall in the past—and that it was heavy enough to change the planet’s surface. The water could then be channelled and able to cut through the planet’s surface, creating valleys.

Source: Mint May 17, 2017 14:03 UTC