| Abstract: | Athabasca Valles is a young outflow channel system on Mars that may have been carved by catastrophic water floods. However, images acquired by the High-Resolution Imaging Science Experiment camera onboard the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter spacecraft reveal that Athabasca Valles is now entirely draped by a thin layer of solidified lava - the remnant of a once-swollen river of molten rock. The lava erupted from a fissure, inundated the channels, and drained downstream in geologically recent times. Purported ice features in Athabasca Valles and its distal basin, Cerberus Palus, are actually composed of this lava. Similar volcanic processes may have operated in other ostensibly fluvial channels, which could explain in part why the landers sent to investigate sites of ancient flooding on Mars have predominantly found lava at the surface instead. |
| Genre: | Article |
| ProdID: | 70030056 |
| Citation Author: | Jaeger, W. L.; Keszthelyi, L. P.; McEwen, A. S.; Dundas, C. M.; Russell, P. S. |
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| Citation End Page: | 1711 |
| Citation Issue: | 5845 |
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| Citation Language: | English |
| Citation Larger Work Title: | Science |
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| Citation Number Of Pages: | 3 |
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| Citation Search Results Text: | Athabasca Valles, Mars: A lava-draped channel system; 2007; Article; Journal; Science; Jaeger, W. L.; Keszthelyi, L. P.; McEwen, A. S.; Dundas, C. M.; Russell, P. S. |
| Citation Start Page: | 1709 |
| Citation Volume: | 317 |
| Citation Year: | 2007 |
| Type: | citation/reference |
| Text: | Athabasca Valles, Mars: A lava-draped channel system; 2007; Article; Journal; Science; Jaeger, W. L.; Keszthelyi, L. P.; McEwen, A. S.; Dundas, C. M.; Russell, P. S. |
| URL (THUMBNAIL): | http://pubs.er.usgs.gov/thumbnails/outside_thumb.jpg |
| URL (DIGITAL OBJECT IDENTIFIER): | http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.1143315 |
| Date Other: | Mon, 1 Jan 2007 00:00 -0600 |
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