Harmakhis Vallis

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Harmakhis Vallis
Dao Niger and Harmakhis Vallis PIA02810.jpg
Harmakhis Vallis is the rightmost channel pictured. The direction of water flow was toward the bottom of the image.
Coordinates 40°24′S90°24′E / 40.4°S 90.4°E / -40.4; 90.4 Coordinates: 40°24′S90°24′E / 40.4°S 90.4°E / -40.4; 90.4
Naming Ancient Egyptian word for "Mars"

Harmakhis Vallis is a valley near Hellas Planitia, Mars. It has been identified as an outflow channel, the site of catastrophic floods of water during Mars' past.

Hellas Planitia crater on Mars

Hellas Planitia is a plain located within the huge, roughly circular impact basin Hellas located in the southern hemisphere of the planet Mars. Hellas is the third or fourth largest impact crater and the largest visible impact crater known in the Solar System. The basin floor is about 7,152 m (23,465 ft) deep, 3,000 m (9,800 ft) deeper than the Moon's South Pole-Aitken basin, and extends about 2,300 km (1,400 mi) east to west. It is centered at 42.4°S 70.5°E. Hellas Planitia is in the Hellas quadrangle and the Noachis quadrangle.

Mars Fourth planet from the Sun in the Solar System

Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun and the second-smallest planet in the Solar System after Mercury. In English, Mars carries a name of the Roman god of war, and is often referred to as the "Red Planet" because the iron oxide prevalent on its surface gives it a reddish appearance that is distinctive among the astronomical bodies visible to the naked eye. Mars is a terrestrial planet with a thin atmosphere, having surface features reminiscent both of the impact craters of the Moon and the valleys, deserts, and polar ice caps of Earth.

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Gullies are also common on the wall of Harmakhis Vallis, as seen the image below. Some authors have suggested these structures indicate geologically recent flow of small quantities of water across the surface. [1]

See also

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Terra Sirenum terra on Mars

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Noachis quadrangle

The Noachis quadrangle is one of a series of 30 quadrangle maps of Mars used by the United States Geological Survey (USGS) Astrogeology Research Program. The Noachis quadrangle is also referred to as MC-27.

Arcadia quadrangle

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Margaritifer Sinus quadrangle

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Hellas quadrangle quadrangle on Mars

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Eridania quadrangle

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Phaethontis quadrangle

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Maja Valles valles on Mars

Maja Valles is a large, ancient outflow channel in the Lunae Palus quadrangle on Mars. Its location is 12.6° north latitude and 58.3° west longitude. The name is a Nepali word for "Mars". Maja Valles begins at Juventae Chasma. Parts of the system have been partially buried by thin volcanic debris. Maja Valles ends at Chryse Planitia. This channel system begins at Juventae Chasma and eventually ends in Chryse Planitia.

Kasei Valles valles on Mars

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Lobate debris apron

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Sirenum Fossae fossae on Mars

Sirenum Fossae is a long trough in several quadrangles including Memnonia quadrangle and Phaethontis quadrangle of Mars, centered at 35.57° south latitude and 197.26° west longitude. Sirenum Fossae is 2,735 km long and was named after a classical albedo feature name. Troughs on Mars like this one are called Fossae. Sirenum Fossae is believed to have formed by movement along a pair of faults causing a center section to drop down. This kind of feature is called a graben.

Fretted terrain is a type of surface feature common to certain areas of Mars and was discovered in Mariner 9 images. It lies between two different types of terrain. The surface of Mars can be divided into two parts: low, young, uncratered plains that cover most of the northern hemisphere, and high-standing, old, heavily cratered areas that cover the southern and a small part of the northern hemisphere. Between these two zones is a region called the Martian dichotomy and parts of it contain fretted terrain. This terrain contains a complicated mix of cliffs, mesas, buttes, and straight-walled and sinuous canyons. It contains smooth, flat lowlands along with steep cliffs. The scarps or cliffs are usually 1 to 2 km high. Channels in the area have wide, flat floors and steep walls. Fretted terrain shows up in northern Arabia, between latitudes 30°N and 50°N and longitudes 270°W and 360°W, and in Aeolis Mensae, between 10 N and 10 S latitude and 240 W and 210 W longitude. Two good examples of fretted terrain are Deuteronilus Mensae and Protonilus Mensae.

Gullies on Mars

Martian gullies are small, incised networks of narrow channels and their associated downslope sediment deposits, found on the planet of Mars. They are named for their resemblance to terrestrial gullies. First discovered on images from Mars Global Surveyor, they occur on steep slopes, especially on the walls of craters. Usually, each gully has a dendritic alcove at its head, a fan-shaped apron at its base, and a single thread of incised channel linking the two, giving the whole gully an hourglass shape. They are estimated to be relatively young because they have few, if any craters. A subclass of gullies is also found cut into the faces of sand dunes, that are themselves considered to be quite young. Linear dune gullies are now considered recurrent seasonnal afeatures.

References

  1. Heldmann, J. and M. Mellon. Observations of Martian gullies and constraints on potential formation mechanisms. 2004. Icarus. 168: 285-304.
Further reading

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