New images from the European Space Agency's Mars Express are showing the largest canyon in the Solar System.
The Grand Canyon of Mars is a system of canyons on the surface of Mars.
The Earth version seems like a canyon for ants.
Valles Marineris is almost 10 times larger than the canyon system in North America. The feature is very interesting to planetary scientists because Earth has nothing like it.
Sections of chasmata, Ius and Tithonium can be seen in the images by Mars Express. Scientists can get a better understanding of Mars' geological history by studying the details of the incredible natural structures.
There are two chasmata.
Mars has a crust that is fused into a layer that covers the planetary interior. Earth is divided into plates that can shift around with a lot of consequences.
Scientists think that the marineris formed when Mars had plates. The canyon system was formed by a widening crack between plates, according to recent research. This makes it even more interesting.
The images from Mars Express make the canyon appear shallow, but the two chasmata are very large. Tithonium Chasma spans over 800 kilometers in its entirety.
The canyon is five times deeper than the Grand Canyon due to the fact that the canyon is 7 kilometers deep.
There are two chasmatas.
The images in the two chasmata show a number of features. There is a row of jagged mountains within Ius. The mountains are no longer as they were.
Tithonium is a dark color in the top part of the picture. The west of the chasma may have been where this came from. These are mountains that are more than 3 kilometers tall.
The top of the mountains have been scoured off. This shows that the mountain is softer than the rock around it.
The rock is not impervious. There is a recent slide of the canyon wall to the right of the mountain.
The map shows features in the chasmata.
Sulfate-bearing minerals have been found in some of the features. It has been thought that the Chasma was once filled with water.
Recent detection of hydrogen in the chasma suggests that a lot of water may be bound up with minerals beneath the surface.
Since we are forced to study it remotely, it is hard to make conclusions with any certainty. Identifying areas of interest could help in the planning of future Mars missions, both crewed and uncrewed, and sending a rover to Valles Marineris would help scientists answer some of the burning questions that have arisen.
Images like these help answer questions. They are also stunningly beautiful.
The images have been made public.
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