BibSonomy ::  publication ::

Earth is the only planet in the solar system where large amounts of liquid water have been stable at the surface throughout geologic time. This unique trait has resulted in the production of characteristic landforms and massive accumulations of aqueous sediments, as well as enabled the evolution of advanced and diverse forms of life. But while Earth is the only planet with large bodies of water on its surface today, Venus and Mars may have once had lakes or oceans as well. More exotic fluids may be stable in the outer solar system. Prior to the Voyager flybys of the outer planets during the 1970s and 1980s, the moon of Neptune, Triton, was thought to be much larger than the Voyager cameras revealed it to be, and predictions that liquid nitrogen lakes or oceans might be found were made. The moon of Saturn, Titan, however, was found to have a massive atmosphere, so the possibility remains that it may have, or may once have had, lakes or oceans of liquid hydrocarbons. The recent, high-resolution synthetic aperture radar imaging of Venus has failed to reveal any evidence of any putative clement period, but the results for Mars are much more intriguing. Herein, we briefly review work on this subject by a number of investigators, and discuss problems of identifying and recognizing martian landforms as lacustrine or marine. In addition, we present additional examples of possible martian coastal landforms. The former presence of lakes or oceans on Mars has profound implications with regard to the climate history of that planet.