HiRISE: Warm-season flows in cold-season ravines

ESP_040590_1335Ravines (or very large gullies) are actively forming on Mars during the coldest times of year, when carbon dioxide frost aids mass wasting.

However, some of these ravines also show activity in the warmest time of year, in the form of recurring slope lineae (RSL); dark, narrow flows in some alcoves that flow part way down the channels. Few topographic changes have been seen in association with RSL, and they appear to be seeps of water that seasonally extend down slopes, then fade when inactive, and recur each warm season. Could the RSL activity carve the ravines? [More at link]

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