Research published in the journal Icarus has found pits in Hale Crater that are caused by hot ejecta falling on ground containing ice.

[3] Many steep slopes in this quadrangle contain gullies, which are believed to have formed by relatively recent flows of water.

Various measurements and calculations show that liquid water could exist in aquifers at the usual depths where gullies begin.

[8] One variation of this model is that rising hot magma could have melted ice in the ground and caused water to flow in aquifers.

[11] As for the next theory, much of the surface of Mars is covered by a thick smooth mantle that is thought to be a mixture of ice and dust.

[12][13][14] This ice-rich mantle, a few yards thick, smooths the land, but in places it has a bumpy texture, resembling the surface of a basketball.

The water comes back to ground at lower latitudes as deposits of frost or snow mixed generously with dust.

[23] The third theory might be possible since climate changes may be enough to simply allow ice in the ground to melt and thus form the gullies.

During a warmer climate, the first few meters of ground could thaw and produce a "debris flow" similar to those on the dry and cold Greenland east coast.

[24] Since the gullies occur on steep slopes only a small decrease of the shear strength of the soil particles is needed to begin the flow.

[30][31] An article written by 22 researchers in Icarus concluded that the impact that formed the Argyre basin probably stuck an ice cap or a thick permafrost layer.

Energy from the impact melted the ice and formed a giant lake that eventually sent water to the North.

This region shows a great deal of evidence of glacial activity with flow features, crevasse-like fractures, drumlins, eskers, tarns, aretes, cirques, horns, U-shaped valleys, and terraces.

[32] Studies with advanced cameras, such as CTX, and MRO High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) suggests that these ridges are probably eskers.

Calculations and simulations show that groundwater carrying dissolved minerals would surface in the same locations that have abundant rock layers.

Martian ground water probably moved hundreds of kilometers, and in the process it dissolved many minerals from the rock it passed through.

On Earth, mineral-rich waters often evaporate forming large deposits of various types of salts and other minerals.

[39] On Earth the hardness of many sedimentary rocks, like sandstone, is largely due to the cement that was put in place as water passed through.

[42][43][44][45] Indeed, a study published in June 2017, calculated that the volume of water needed to carve all the channels on Mars was even larger than the proposed ocean that the planet may have had.