AnewZ Morning Brief - 16 September, 2025
Start your day informed with AnewZ Morning Brief: here are the top news stories for the 16th of September, covering the latest developments you need t...
Beijing/Mars, February 24, 2025 – Ground-penetrating radar data from China’s Zhurong rover has revealed what appear to be sandy beach deposits buried beneath Mars’ surface, lending strong support to the theory that a vast ocean once stretched across the planet’s northern plains.
The findings, published Monday in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, suggest that the hypothesized Deuteronilus Ocean existed roughly 3.5 to 4 billion years ago, during a period when Mars had a thicker atmosphere and a warmer, wetter climate.
During its operational period from May 2021 to May 2022, the rover traversed approximately 1.2 miles (1.9 km) in southern Utopia Planitia—a region that exhibits surface features resembling an ancient shoreline. Using its high-frequency ground-penetrating radar, which probed up to 80 meters (260 feet) below the surface, the rover detected thick layers of material—ranging from 10 to 35 meters deep—that closely mimic the slopes and angles of Earth’s beaches found just below the waterline.
“These coastal deposits were formed by wave and tidal action, much like beaches on Earth,” said Guangzhou University planetary scientist Hai Liu, a member of the Tianwen-1 science team. “By using ground-penetrating radar, we found direct evidence of coastal deposits that weren't visible from the surface.” Liu added that the preservation of these structures beneath layers of dust, meteorite debris, and volcanic material has allowed them to remain intact over billions of years.
Planetary scientist Michael Manga of the University of California, Berkeley, highlighted the significance of these findings: “Shorelines are great locations to look for evidence of past life. It’s thought that the earliest life on Earth began at locations like this, near the interface of air and shallow water.” The study’s authors suggest that the extensive beach deposits indicate a long-lived body of water with active wave action, potentially created by rivers draining from nearby highlands.
Researchers carefully ruled out alternative explanations for the observed formations. “We considered wind-blown dunes, ancient river channels, and even lava flows,” explained Penn State geoscientist Benjamin Cardenas. “However, the patterns we observed best match those of beaches, which simply fit the observations.”
The discovery adds a crucial piece to the puzzle of Mars’ watery past. While satellite images have long hinted at the existence of ancient Martian shorelines, surface features can be distorted or erased by billions of years of erosion. In contrast, these buried deposits provide a more pristine record of the planet’s ancient ocean, offering new insights into Mars’ climatic evolution and its potential to have harbored life.
As scientists continue to explore Mars’ subsurface with advanced techniques, findings like these not only illuminate the planet’s distant past but also refine the search for biosignatures in environments once teeming with liquid water.
AnewZ has learned that India has once again blocked Azerbaijan’s application for full membership in the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, while Pakistan’s recent decision to consider diplomatic relations with Armenia has been coordinated with Baku as part of Azerbaijan’s peace agenda.
A day of mourning has been declared in Portugal to pay respect to victims who lost their lives in the Lisbon Funicular crash which happened on Wednesday evening.
A Polish Air Force pilot was killed on Thursday when an F-16 fighter jet crashed during a training flight ahead of the 2025 Radom International Air Show.
At least eight people have died and more than 90 others were injured following a catastrophic gas tanker explosion on a major highway in Mexico City’s Iztapalapa district on Wednesday, authorities confirmed.
Start your day informed with AnewZ Morning Brief: here are the top news stories for the 16th of September, covering the latest developments you need to know.
A massive attack on Ukraine's south eastern city of Zaporizhzhia has killed a 41-year-old man and injured 13 people on Tuesday according to officials. The regional governor said that the strikes triggered a large number of fires.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he did not rule out further strikes on Hamas leaders "wherever they are", as the heads of Arab and Islamic states held a summit to back Qatar after Israel's attack last week in the Gulf state.
Google said on Tuesday it would make £5 billion pounds ($6.80 billion) in new investments into Britain ahead of U.S. President Donald Trump's state visit to the country, which is expected to feature a flurry of business deals and partnerships.
U.S President Donald Trump said on Monday he would file a $15-billion lawsuit for defamation and libel against the New York Times, days after the newspaper released articles on his ties to disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein.
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