The complex system of underground waterways was detected around a larger saltwater lake that was discovered by the same group of scientists in 2018.
This underground lake region probably contains salty brines, according to a study published in Nature Astronomy, coordinated by Elena Pettinelli and Sebastian Emanuel Lauro of the Roma Tre University, and Roberto Orosei of the National Institute of Astrophysics (INAF) in Bologna.
The new lakes were found with the Mars Express orbiter that the Italian Space Agency (ASI) provided for the European Space Agency’s Mars Express mission.
The team detected some areas of high reflectivity that they say indicate bodies of liquid water trapped under more than one kilometre of Martian ice.
The largest, central lake measures 30 kilometres across, and is surrounded by three smaller lakes, each a few kilometres wide.
Analysis of data found the lakes are rich in salt, which lowers water’s freezing point.
The system has been likened to those in Antarctica, home to strange shrimps and swimming sea cucumbers.
If confirmed, the new development could help to rewrite the history of the planet’s climate and shed light on the eventual existence of life on it.
With ANSA
