LOS ANGELES - For the first time, scientists peering below the
surface of Mars have detected a maze of channels apparently
created by past flooding. Such geologic features are easily
spotted on the Martian surface, but researchers have not been
able to find them underground until now. Using a ground-piercing
radar sensor aboard the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, a team of
scientists led by the Smithsonian Institution made a 3-D map of
the plains along the Martian equator and the channels below the
surface. The findings were reported online Thursday in the
journal Science. They suggest evidence of past flooding at a
time when Mars was mostly thought to be dry and cold. Scientists
say the buried channels were not detected before because the
region had been covered over by lava flow. The Associated Press