Athabasca Valles, Mars: A lava-draped channel system
Science
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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.
| Publication type | Article |
|---|---|
| Publication Subtype | Journal Article |
| Title | Athabasca Valles, Mars: A lava-draped channel system |
| Series title | Science |
| DOI | 10.1126/science.1143315 |
| Volume | 317 |
| Issue | 5845 |
| Year Published | 2007 |
| Language | English |
| Publisher | American Association for the Advancement of Science |
| Contributing office(s) | Astrogeology Science Center |
| Description | 3 p. |
| Larger Work Type | Article |
| Larger Work Subtype | Journal Article |
| Larger Work Title | Science |
| First page | 1709 |
| Last page | 1711 |
| Google Analytic Metrics | Metrics page |