Ancient Mega-Floods Once Ripped Across Mars and Left This Giant Scar

ESA’s Mars Express has captured new images of Shalbatana Vallis, a giant 1,300-kilometer outflow channel on Mars.

The valley was likely carved about 3.5 billion years ago by massive floods of groundwater, leaving behind chaotic terrain, lava flows, and craters.

The landscape offers strong evidence of ancient water activity and helps scientists piece together Mars’s early climate history.

Researchers say it could shed light on whether Mars once had a warmer, wetter environment and possibly a northern ocean.