Question

Could there be liquid water hidden in the deep canyons of Mars?

Yes. In fact, the recently arrived Mars Odyssey 2001 will further inspect your suspicions as it enters low Mars orbit in the next few months. Currently, our data from the Mars Global Surveyor (orbiting Mars since 1997) suggests that a few of Mars’ gullies, channels, and canyons are much younger than others we have studied in the past. The large dry riverbeds discovered by the Mariner 9 and the Viking orbiters of the ’70s have probably not carried water in billions of years, as evidenced by their highly eroded and cratered surfaces. Some of the channels seen by the Surveyor, on the other hand, are not covered by wind-blown dust or scarred by craters, suggesting that they are very young. Michael Malin, a principal investigator for the Mars Orbiter Camera, claims that these gullies may be anywhere from a few million years old to a few days old. While it is still very unlikely that water flows anywhere on Mars’ freezing surface, many suggest that these younger channels may have been formed by “flash floods” of water bursting from Mars’ underground. Though the water would quickly freeze, such geological events might explain these apparently recent formations. For more information on water on Mars, see the following sites:

http://www.msss.com/mars_images/moc/june2000/

http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2001/ast05jan_1.htm

http://www.stardate.org/resources/news/mars/200010.html
October 29, 2001