Despite its cold and arid surface, Mars displays signs of water springs possibly heated by volcanism, bolstering theories that simple life forms could have emerged on the red planet, according to reports. Looking at images snapped by the Mars Global Surveyor spacecraft, researchers have detected evidence of springs on the surface, USA Today reported Wednesday. The discovery focuses in part on the Valles Marineris region, a colossal canyon that dominates the martian landscape. Scientists think Mars' surface coursed with water billions of years ago, based on evidence of liquid erosion and signs of ancient channels and seas. But the water all but disappeared as the planet cooled and its atmosphere thinned.
Water is known to exist in the present as ice in the northern ice cap and as vapor in faint clouds.
But vast quantities could remain trapped under the surface, according to planetary geologists. Many theorize that such groundwater remains in a frozen state. But the Surveyor images suggest that recent underground volcanic forces have heated water into a liquid state, according to a colleague of a Mars scientist who made the discovery. The report will be published in the June 29 issue of Science magazine. Groundwater would likely turn into vapor or ice soon after it reached the surface.