"Definitive Evidence" For Ancient Lake On Mars

TheSync writes "Eurekalert reports on 'definitive evidence' for an ancient water lake on Mars. A UC Boulder research team has discovered evidence of a shoreline on Mars of a 3 billion year-old lake 80 square miles in area and 1,500 feet deep (roughly the equivalent of Lake Champlain). Images came from the HiRISE instrument on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. Water carved a 30-mile-long canyon that opened up into a valley and forming a large delta during a time when Mars is generally believed to have been cold and dry. The lack of additional, lower shorelines, shows that the lake dried up very quickly. Of particular interest are the deltas adjacent to the lake. On Earth, deltas rapidly bury organic carbon and other biomarkers of life, making the Martian lake bed and delta a prime target for future searches for past life on the planet."

Comments

Old news?

[Anonymous Coward]

A three billion year old lake? Geez slashdot, can't you be any quicker with your stories?

Re:Old news?

[No2Gates]

Hey mom, me an Billy are going swimming. we'll be back in about 12 years, ok?

Re:NASA has been hiding life on Mars for years

[dtml-try MyNick]

403 Permission Denied

And a thorough job they did...

Blah blah blah, wake me when they prove it.

[BlueKitties]

I used to get excited about all of these Mars jazz... when I was a kid; after every other Popsci mag I used to read blathered about new evidence for life/water/robots on Mars, I started getting tired of it. Years later, they're still blathering about it; frankly, I'm tired of it. Come back when you splash land a rover into a giant pool of water which is then eaten by Mars sharks, then I'll be more enthushtaotiblastic.

Re:Blah blah blah, wake me when they prove it.

[Red Flayer]

then I'll be more enthushtaotiblastic

Dude, you're bitching about the fact we haven't encountered Martians yet, but you're speaking their fucking language.

Gorblobberschnart, man, relax... the martians are there, "they" just don't want us to know about them. ("They" meaning various 3- and 4-letter government agencies).

Re:Blah blah blah, wake me when they prove it.

[catbertscousin]

then I'll be more enthushtaotiblastic

Dude, you're bitching about the fact we haven't encountered Martians yet, but you're speaking their fucking language.

Not only that, but he left out the second 'e'. "Enthushtaotibelastic" means excited and interested, "enthushtaotiblastic" is a form of shark sushi. Honestly, people, this is first year stuff in Kiiwohl School. Grammar matters on Mars - if he'd said that to the local Gringkel, he'd be a steaming plate of enthushtaotiblastic now.

Re:If it's definitive evidence...

[MyLongNickName]

I 'don't know'.

Whose standard would that be?

[gbutler69]

Oh, you mean, "Standard Units" for scientists or countries that don't use the imperial system.

Re:evidence of lake != lake of water

[elrous0]

Back in college I used to dream of an ethanol lake. I bet heaven has one.

Re:Sweet pics

[Locke2005]

Here you go