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. Streams and tributaries are called a network. The shape of the network can take on a number of different patterns, including the one shown here.
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
- small tributaries connect to larger ones
- the network ends at the ocean (there are no oceans on Mars)