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 08 October 2008 00:18 BST

Mars' Grand Canyon

Wednesday, 16 Jul 2008 13:47
Dramatic images of one of the largest water source regions on Mars have been beamed back to Earth by the high-resolution stereo camera (HRSC) on board the European Space Agency's Mars Express.

The region is known as the Echus Chasma, a 100km long and 10km wide incision in the high plateau north of Valles Marineris - the 'Grand Canyon' of Mars.

Echus Chasma is the water source region of Kasei Valles, which extends thousands of kilometres to the north, and its southern-most part.

The images of the Echus Chasma plateau show valleys that are about 10km long and 1000m deep. The main valley, Kasei Valles, is about 4km in depth. The smaller valleys, also called sapping canyons, originate from the discharge of groundwater.


Perspective view of Echus ChasmaOne of the perspective views of the Echus Chasma.




Echus Chasma in 3-DThe Echus Chasma in 3-D




4000m-high cliff in Mars' Echus Chasma A 4000m-high cliff in Mars' Echus Chasma. It is located in the eastern part of Echus Chasma. Scientists believe gigantic water falls may once have plunged over these cliffs on to the valley floor and that the remarkably smooth valley floor was later flooded by basaltic lava.




Ortho-image of Echus ChasmaThe ortho-image was created using elevation data from a high-resolution digital terrain model. Data has been colour coded to show different heights.




Perspective view of Echus ChasmaThe dark material shows a network of light-coloured, shallowly incised valleys.

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