Exploratour - Water on Mars
Leave the Tour and read more about the Water Cycle
River Networks
On Earth, rivers serve the purpose of draining water from basins and transporting it downstream as part of the water cycle. Rivers and their tributaries carry water from higher elevations to the sea. Streams and tributaries are called a drainage network or a "network" for short.
The shape of the network can take on a number of different patterns, including the one shown here. Without adequate drainage, basins and plains would flood.
Scientists are curious to know if rivers and network of Mars serve the same purpose. On Earth, networks seem to follow certain rules which are illustrated in the drawing:
- all streams can only flow one way, namely downstream
- small tributaries connect to larger ones
- eventually the network terminates at the ocean (there are no oceans on Mars)