Mars: How low can you go?
08. 10. 10
There are few places on Mars lower than this. On the left of this image, the floor of Melas Chasma sinks nine kilometers below the surrounding plains. New images from Mars Express highlight the complex history of this enormous Martian canyon.
Melas Chasma is part of the huge Valles Marineris rift valley, which stretches for more than 4000 km across the surface of Mars. This image covers 200 x 100 km and covers an area of roughly 20,000 sq km, which is about the size of Slovenia. Around Melas Chasma, there is abundant evidence for water having flowed across Mars in the past. As well as ancient water-cut channels, there are lighter-colored deposits of sulfate components that were probably deposited in a former lake.
The full news story is available on the ESA website.
News archive Previous stories
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- February 2010
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