Astronomers have studied a 650ft cliff face in a crater on the surface of the red planet and uncovered the first evidence ever of a river on Mars. It is believed that the river flowed across Mars for more than 100,000 years around 3.7 billion years ago.

It had permanent marks which revealed that the river was a deep, fast-flowing torrent of water which existed all year-round. It proves the claim that Mars once had abundant liquid water and a stable atmosphere capable of supporting life when the solar system was still in its infancy stage.

Researchers from the Utrecht University looked at the high-resolution images captured by orbiters circling around the red planet and discovered evidence of the river. They believe that the river was constantly shifting and creating sandbanks that are the same as the Rhine River, or any other rivers found in Northern Italy.

First evidence ever on the presence of the river

Painted in the picture of the river on Mars is the large cliff face, located at Izola mensa in the northwestern rim of the Hellas Basin in the southern hemisphere of Mars. The researchers scrutinized the soft sedimentary rocks using the advanced imagery on the satellites providing resolution of up to an inch or 25cm per pixel.

They found that the marks on the rocks resemble those seen on Earth when water flows past a rock for long periods of time. The age of the cliffs poses a challenge to astronomers to predict how long the river would have been as erosion makes the current surface vastly different to the one that existed more than billions of years ago.

Research lead author, Dr Francisco Salese, said that with the help of the correct technology, analyzing the marks on the rocks are easy. However, it was not quite as simple as "reading a newspaper."

He added that the extremely high-resolution imagery allowed them to read the rocks as if they are standing near the cliff. Unfortunately, they do not have the ability to climb and look for the finer-scale details. Still, the striking similarities to the sedimentary rocks on Earth could help explain the mystery behind these rocks on Mars.

Tracing back its history

Geologists observe the order and positioning of rocks to trace the history of Earth's waterways. These tried and tested methods were applied in Mars imagery.

Geologist William McMahon from the Utrecht University said that the technology used in this methodology could be extended to the red planet which hosts an ancient sedimentary rock record that extends further back in time than our own.

This study was published in the journal Nature Communications, proving that Mars had its version of the water cycle driven by rain. It backs up the previous research claiming that the red planet had a prolonged presence of water.

Dr Salese said that such constant flowing rivers would require an environment capable of maintaining large volumes of water for long periods of time, and most certainly necessitated a precipitation-driven water cycle.

According to MailOnline, the evidence found of a long-lived watery landscape is crucial in the search for ancient life on Mars.