Ancient lake found on mars

Mars Shalbatana Lake may look like about 4.3 billion years ago. (Agencies)

  U.S. Researchers have uncovered traces of ancient lake on mars year hopes of boosting discovering evidence that billions of years ago the red planet hosted life.

  The lake, which some dates back 3.4 billion years, appears to have covered as much as 80 square miles and was up to 1.500 feet deep, said the team from the University of Colorado.

  "This is the first unambiguous evidence of shorelines on the surface of mars," said boulder's research associate, gaetano di achille, in a study published in the latest edition of geophysical research letters.

  "The identification of the shorelines and accompanying geological evidence allow us to calculate the size and volume of the lake, which appears to have formed about 3.4 one billion years ago."

  Analysis of the image has shown the water carved out the canyon in which it was found, which opened then out into a valley depositing sediment which formed a delta.

  "Finding shorelines is a holy grail of sorts to us," said assistant professor brian hynek, adding it existed showed the lake at a time when march was thought to have been cold and dry.

  scientists believe the oldest surfaces on mars formed during ring the warm and wet era known as the noachan epoch, about one billion to 4.1 3.7 one billion years ago, that featured a large bombardment of meteors and extensive flooding.

  Newly discovered the lake is believed to date from the Hesperian era and post-dated the end of the warm and wet on mars by period 300 million years, according to the study.

  Scientists believe deltas next to the lake may well hold a secret about past life on mars as such places on earth have become the natural deposits of organic carbon and other markers of life.