Possible River and Ocean Locations on Mars’ Surface

Peiyu Wu, Earth and Space Sciences

Whether water once flowed on Mars is essential to prove the existence of life on the planet, because water is required by almost all known forms of life to live. In addition, water flows could help transfer substances from a cell to the cell’s environment. A geographic information system (GIS) can be used to examine the elevation model of Mars and can create a hydrologic network based on the basic rules of gravity. In this project, a digital elevation model (DEM) of Mars surface downloaded from the USGS Planetary Interactive GIS-on-the Web Analyzable Database (PIGWAD) is examined to search for river valley-like features, and an area-restricted hydrologic network is created to enhance visual analysis on the Martian hydrologic system.