Sandy shores on Mars? China's latest discovery paints new picture of Red Planet

Live Science in a new article describes that Mars might have once been more than just a barren wasteland — new findings from China's Zhurong rover suggest the Red Planet could have had sandy beaches and a vast ocean, similar to Earth’s early seas. 

China’s Zhurong rover has made groundbreaking discoveries on Mars, unveiling signs of an ancient shoreline buried deep beneath the planet’s surface. These findings hint at the presence of a former ocean, complete with beaches, and raise the intriguing possibility that life may have once existed on the Red Planet.

According to ground-penetrating radar data from the rover, Mars may have once been a prime vacation spot, with sandy beaches lining the shores of a vast ocean. The rover’s exploration provides fresh evidence of an ancient Martian ocean named Deuteronilus, which existed more than 3 billion years ago. Researchers suggest that, much like Earth's early seas, this ocean could have offered a suitable environment for life to thrive. The findings were published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

"We're finding places on Mars that used to look like ancient beaches and ancient river deltas," said Benjamin Cardenas, assistant professor of geology at Penn State and co-author of the study. "We found evidence for wind, waves, no shortage of sand — a proper, vacation-style beach."

The Zhurong rover, which landed on Mars in 2021 in Utopia Planitia — one of the planet’s oldest and largest impact basins — has been exploring a dried-up shoreline. Its radar scans have been examining the surrounding geology for clues about evaporated water and ice.

By scanning beneath the planet’s surface, Zhurong detected layered structures containing formations called foreshore deposits. Similar to Earth’s beaches, these deposits are typically formed by sediments left behind by ocean tides and waves.

"This immediately stood out to us because it indicates the presence of waves, suggesting a dynamic interaction between air and water," Cardenas explained. "When we consider where early life on Earth began, it was in the interaction between oceans and land, so this provides a picture of ancient environments that could have supported conditions conducive to microbial life."

Further comparisons with Earth’s shorelines helped the team rule out other potential causes for the formations. Unlike those formed by ancient river flows, wind, or volcanic activity, the shape and size of these depressions are much more consistent with coastal origins.

"We’re observing how the shoreline of this body of water changed over time," Cardenas continued. "We often think of Mars as a static snapshot, but it was evolving. Rivers were flowing, sediment was shifting, and land was being formed and eroded. This kind of sedimentary geology helps us understand what the landscape looked like, how it developed, and, crucially, where we should search for signs of past life."

The Deuteronilus ocean, if it existed, likely disappeared within the first billion years of Mars's 4.5 billion-year history. However, this window of time may have been long enough for early life forms to develop in its waters. While these findings are compelling, they don’t provide definitive proof that life once existed on Mars.

But answers may be closer than expected. The Perseverance rover, which has been exploring Mars' Jezero Crater since 2021, may have already collected dust samples and potential evidence of ancient life.

NASA had initially planned to launch a sample retrieval mission in 2026, but budgetary concerns have delayed the mission until 2040. In the meantime, NASA is seeking proposals from private companies to accelerate the mission's timeline.

By Naila Huseynova