What scientists suspect might be ancient ocean shorelines on the northern plains of Mars is actually a network of tectonic ridges related to dramatic martian volcanism, a University of Arizona planetary sciences graduate student and a collaborating post-doctoral researcher at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology report in the April 5 issue of Nature. Projection of MOLA data of Martian north pole to equator.
Black lines indicate position interpreted shorelines.
Their new findings don't rule out the possibility that an ancient ocean once did cover the northern half of Mars. However, what previously has been reported to be ancient shorelines apparently are not. The instrument continues an extended mission in orbit around Mars on the Mars Global Surveyor spacecraft. MOLA transmits infrared laser pulses towards the surface of Mars, and the measurements are used to create topographic maps accurate to within a meter of elevation. Viking era topographic maps of Mars were accurate only to about a kilometer.