Mars flooding cut deeper than scientists previously thought.

A team of researchers using radar data gathered by NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, generated a 3D image showing that one of the largest channels on Mars, Marte Vallis, believed to originally have been carved by flooding, is more than twice as deep as previously believed.

The researchers, who released their findings Thursday on the website SPACE.com, found Marte Vallis is at least 230 feet deep.

"This is the first time we've been able to see buried flood channels on a planet other than the Earth," lead study author Gareth Morgan, a geologist at the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum, told SPACE.com. "That shows previous ideas of erosion, of how much water have gone through Marte Vallis, have been underestimated. There was more significant flooding than before thought, and it's interesting to think of where this water might have come from during this relatively dry period."

The researchers believe the flooding could be evidence of climate change on Mars.

"Outflow channels on Mars are interpreted as the product of gigantic floods due to the catastrophic eruption of groundwater that may also have initiated episodes of climate change," reads the study's abstract.

Morgan believes the Mars flooding could have come from underground volcanoes.

"The source of the floodwaters suggests they originated from a deep groundwater reservoir and may have been released by local tectonic or volcanic activity," he said. "There's also evidence of channels buried by lava or other sorts of materials in other areas on Mars, and we'd like to apply the same sort of radar studies to those."