This drawing shows the possible geography of Martian water.
Click on image for full size
NASA
The Transfer of Water in Martian History
On Mars, the water is trapped, frozen, within the ground. Nevertheless, there is evidence for running water on Mars.
When the water is melted and released to the surface, it will run from higher ground to lower ground. Because the geography of Mars is so unusual, where the south of the planet is high ground, while the north of the planet is lower ground,
scientist think that this means that water has been drawn slowly from the south to the north of the planet through all of Martian history.
This is a very different pattern of circulation of water than is found on the Earth.
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