Warrego Valles
Mariner 9 and Viking Orbiter images showed a network of branching valleys in Thaumasia called the Warrego Valles. These networks are evidence that Mars may have once been warmer, wetter, and perhaps had precipitation in the form of rain or snow. At first glance they resemble river valleys on Earth. But sharper images from more advanced cameras reveal that the valleys are not continuous. They are very old and may have been eroded. A picture below shows some of these branching valleys. A study with the Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter, Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS) and the Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) support the idea that the Warrego Valles were formed from precipitation.
Formation
Planetary scans display evidence of rainfall related processes such as fluvial erosion. However, the digitate pattern formed by the system is most consistent with ground-water sapping processes. It formed in the southern highlands by tectonic fractures dated to be early Hesperian cross cut and have in turn been cross cut by the valley system. This implies that Warrego Valles was still actively forming well into the Hesperian Era.
References
- ^ "Planetary Names: Welcome". Planetarynames.wr.usgs.gov. Retrieved 20 March 2022.
- ^ "Mars Global Surveyor MOC2-868 Release".
- ^ Ansan, V and N. Mangold. 2006. New observations of Warrego Valles, Mars: Evidence for precipitation and surface runoff. Icarus. 54:219-242.
- ^ Gulick, V.; Dohm, J; Tanaka, K; Hare, T (1998). "The Origin of Warrego Valles: A Case Study for Fluvial Valley Formation on Early Mars" (PDF). Lunar and Planetary Science XXIX. Space Sciences Division, NASA-Ames Research Center. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
See also