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Mounds of earth that have been found on the surface of Mars may once have been covered by sprawling lakes, scientist have claimed.

The incredible photographs showing valleys and channels were taken from the Mars Odyssey spacecraft which arrived at Mars in 2001.

Experts believe that the teardrop-shaped islands on the red planet could have formed deep underwater millions of years ago.

The breakthrough could add to evidence that cast oceans that supported life were once present on the planet.

'Based on this analogy, I am humbly suggesting that teardrop-shaped islands on Mars formed underwater in a relatively deep ocean,' said geologist Lorena Moscardelli of the University of Texas, Austin, lead author of a paper in the July Geology.

The study highlights similarities between the Mars land-forms and streaky sea-floor mounds off the coast of Trinidad, bolstering evidence for an ancient ocean in Mars’ northern plains.

Planetary scientists began suspecting Mars might have had a standing ocean in the late 1980s and 1990s. 

Images from the Viking Orbiter showed what looked like shorelines and river channels flowing into Mars’ Chryse Planitia region.

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