Saharan and Martian drainage networks

Fluvial-like landforms such as river channels, alluvial fans and deltas, and sedimentary rocks testifying sediment transport under the influence of water have been observed in numerous regions on Mars, ranging in age from Noachian to Amazonian periods (<3.0 Ga). My hypothesis is that Mars encompassed a wet climate in its deepest past, to which followed the arid environment that we know today. Drainage systems in the eastern Sahara such as valley networks, buried drainage systems, and inverted drainage systems exist because they have been formed during several previous Paleogene and Neogene periods of humid climate. Such relict landforms thus constitute a natural repository of possible analogues for fluvial and fluvial-like landforms on Mars, which can be readily studied in order to provide new insights on surface response at past, present, and future climatic changes.