Zhurong data traces ocean, beaches on Mars

Data provided by the Chinese Mars rover Zhurong when analysed by a team of researchers revealed evidence indicating that the red planet once featured beaches, ocean with waves and wind

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New York: Data provided by the Chinese Mars rover Zhurong when analysed by a team of researchers revealed evidence indicating that the red planet once featured beaches, ocean with waves and wind.

Researchers from US and Chinese universities studied data collected by the Zhurong, which landed in an area of Mars known as Utopia Planitia in 2021, according to a paper published on Monday February 24, 2025.

"We're finding places on Mars that used to look like ancient beaches and ancient river deltas. We found evidence for wind, waves, no shortage of sand - a proper, vacation-style beach", said co-author Benjamin Cardenas, Assistant Professor of Geology at US university Penn State.

Also Read: Zhurong Mars Rover finds evidence of water at Martian low latitudes

The Zhurong rover is part of the Tianwen-1 mission which touched down in southern Utopia Planitia on Mars in May 2021. It was deployed to look for signs of ancient water or ice on the planet, and collected data on the geology of its surroundings using low and high-frequency radar.

In 2023, it switched to dormant mode due to severe weather conditions on Mars, may operate again.

"Various observations suggest that large amounts of liquid water once existed on the Martian surface, however, the nature and fate of this water are uncertain," the researchers write in the Proceedings of the US National Academy of Sciences.

"This finding implies the past existence of a large water body, supporting the hypothesis of a past ocean in the northern plains of Mars", the researchers said.

Earth like sedimentary deposits on Mars

Cardenas said that the data revealed underground sedimentary deposits with a similar layered structure to Earth's beaches, including deposits sloping down as if towards oceans, news agency WAM reported.

"This stood out to us immediately because it suggests there were waves, which means there was a dynamic interface of air and water," Cardenas said, adding that the discovery supports the hypothesis that a large ocean once covered a large portion of the northern pole of Mars.

Michael Manga from the University of California, Berkeley, said that Zhurong's "ground-penetrating radar gives us a view of the sub-surface of the planet, which allows us to do geology that we could have never done before.

"All these incredible advancements in technology have made it possible to do basic science that is revealing a trove of new information about Mars", he said.

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