[Editor’s note: From a paper by Francesco Salese and four co-authors recently published in the Journal of Geophysical Research.]

Geological evidence of planet-wide groundwater system on Mars

• Geological evidence supporting Martian planet-wide groundwater upwelling

• Water-saturated zone intercepted by basins reaching more than -4000m below the Mars 17 DATUM

• Putative relations between groundwater-saturated level (groundwater-fed lakes) and the proposed ocean shorelines around -4000m below the Mars DATUM

Most previous studies on Mars relevant groundwater have proposed models, but few have looked at the geological evidence of groundwater upwelling in deep closed basins in the northern hemisphere equatorial region.

Geological evidence of groundwater upwelling in these deep basins is a key point that will help to validate present‐day models and to better constraint them in the future. Observations in the northern hemisphere show evidence of a planet‐wide groundwater system on Mars.

The elevations of these water‐related morphologies in all studied basins lie within the same narrow range of depths below Mars datum and notably coincide with the elevation of some ocean shorelines proposed by previous authors. [More at link]