Rain impact on Mars: Heavy rains may have reshaped Red Planet's surface

New Delhi: As per a new study, heavy rain on Mars may have reshaped the red planet's surface billions of years ago.

Scientists believe that rains may have impacted the craters and carved out river-like channel on its surface.

Changes in the atmosphere on Mars made it rain harder and harder, which had a similar effect on the planet's surface as seen on Earth, scientists said.

The fourth planet from the Sun, Mars has geological features like the Earth and Moon, such as craters and valleys, many of which were formed through rainfall.

Although there is a growing body of evidence that there was once water on Mars, it does not rain there today.

In the new study, Robert Craddock and Ralph Lorenz from Johns Hopkins University in the US show that there was rainfall in the past - and that it was heavy enough to change the planet's surface.

Valley networks on Mars show evidence for surface runoff driven by rainfall.

(With PTI inputs)