Tag Archives: valley networks

HiRISE: Melas Chasma valleys

Posted on August 12, 2019 by rburnham

Valleys in Melas Chasma. Caption throwback (2008): The interpretation is that the valleys formed by precipitation in the late Hesperian epoch and the water that formed them collected in the basin to produce a lake where sediment was deposited. This … Continue reading →

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Mars Express: Dark meets light in Terra Cimmeria

Posted on August 8, 2019 by rburnham

ESA’s Mars Express has captured the cosmic contrast of Terra Cimmeria, a region in the southern highlands of Mars marked by impact craters, water-carved valleys, and sand and dust in numerous chocolate and caramel hues. Mars is often referred to … Continue reading →

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HiRISE: Valleys in a crater north of Sacra Sulci

Posted on June 4, 2019 by rburnham

Valleys in a crater to the north of Sacra Sulci. Small valleys similar to these have been dated to the Hesperian and Amazonian epochs in other areas of Mars, making them some of the youngest features formed by the flow … Continue reading →

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Rivers raged on Mars late into its history

Posted on April 1, 2019 by rburnham

Long ago on Mars, water carved deep riverbeds into the planet’s surface — but we still don’t know what kind of weather fed them. Scientists aren’t sure, because their understanding of the Martian climate billions of years ago remains incomplete. … Continue reading →

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Mars Express: Signs of ancient flowing water

Posted on February 21, 2019 by rburnham

These images from ESA’s Mars Express satellite show a branching, desiccated system of trenches and valleys, signs of ancient water flow that hint at a warmer, wetter past for the Red Planet. We see Mars as a cold, dry world, … Continue reading →

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Early Mars: Arid, with occasional snow or rain

Posted on October 18, 2018 by rburnham

[Editor’s note: From a paper by Yo Matsubara, Alan Howard, and Ross Irwin recently published in the Journal of Geophysical Research.] Constraints on the Noachian paleoclimate of the martian highlands from landscape evolution modeling Evidences show that Mars was once wetter … Continue reading →

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Valley network distribution supports true polar wander and an ancient ocean

Posted on August 20, 2018 by rburnham

[Editor’s note: From a paper by Ngai Ham Chan and three co-authors recently published in the Journal of Geophysical Research.] New Evidence of an Ancient Martian Ocean from the Global Distribution of Valley Networks • Surface deformation due to True … Continue reading →

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Mars valley networks traced to heavy rainfall

Posted on June 29, 2018 by rburnham

Astonishingly similar: valley networks on Mars bear a strong resemblance to those in terrestrial arid landscapes. Researchers have been able to demonstrate this using the angles of river valley branches. From this, they infer that Mars had a primeval climate … Continue reading →

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Warmer, wetter early Mars: a geological and climatological case

Posted on May 3, 2018 by rburnham

The climate of early Mars is a subject of debate. While it has been thought that Mars had a warm and wet climate, like Earth, other researchers suggested early Mars might have been largely glaciated. A recent study by Ramses … Continue reading →

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How water could flow on icy early Mars

Posted on October 18, 2017 by rburnham

Research by planetary scientists at Brown University finds that periodic melting of ice sheets on a cold early Mars would have created enough water to carve the ancient valleys and lakebeds seen on the planet today. For scientists trying to … Continue reading →

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