Exploratour - Water on Mars
Rivers, or not?
Even though this river and its tributaries resemble the terrestrial river network system, closer inspection with newer cameras has revealed that they do not seem to look like rivers on Earth after all. Scientists cannot find evidence that water, or fluid ever flowed in these channels.
Remember, rivers on Earth are powerful forces. They carry debris and sediments downstream. Instead, these Martian rivers and their tributaries might have formed the seeping of groundwater to the surface. Or they may have formed from a combination of the seeping of groundwater and the running of a stream of water.