Mangala Valles
Mangala Valles is a complex system of criss-crossing channels on Mars, located in the Tharsis region and in the Memnonia quadrangle. It originating in the Amazonian epochs. It is thought to be an outflow channel, carved by catastrophic and release of vast quantities of water across the Martian surface. This flooding was probably initiated by tectonic stretching and the formation of a graben at the channels' head, perhaps breaching a pressurized aquifer trapped beneath a thick "cryosphere" (layer of frozen ground) beneath the surface.[1][2][3][4][5]
Mangala Valles contains several basins which filled, then the overflow went through a series of spillways.[6][7] One source of waters for the system was Memonia Fossae, but water also probably came from a large basin centered at 40 degrees S.[8][9]
A recent study that used photogeologic analysis, geomorphic surface mapping, cratering statistics, and relative stratigraphy, demonstrated that Mangala Valles was flooded by water at least twice and covered with lava at least three times during the Late Amazonian. The presence of scoured bedrock at the base of the mapped stratigraphy, together with evidence from crater retention ages, suggests that fluvial activity came before lava flows. These alternating periods of aqueous flooding and volcanism are similar to that of other outflow systems, such as Kasei Valles.[10]
There are many wind-sculpted ridges or yardangs covering many of the surfaces in the Mangala Valles region.[11][12]
"Mangala" comes from the word for Mars in Sanskrit.
Mangala Valles in fiction
- Mangala Valles is referred to in Michael Crichton's book Sphere.
- In Stephen Baxter's novel Voyage, it is the location of the first manned Mars landing.
- It is also the location of the first manned Mars base in Codex Regius (1999). Horsemen of Mars. ISBN 1499274572.
Gallery
References
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- ^ http://www.msss.com/http/ps/channels/channels.html
- ^ Michael H. Carr (2006). The surface of Mars. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-87201-0. Retrieved 21 March 2011.
- ^ Carr, M. 1979. Formation of martian flood features by release of water from confined aquifers. J. Geophys. Res. 84: 2995-3007.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-521-87501-0
- ^ Hanna, J. and R. Phillips. 2005. Tectonic pressurization of aquifers in the formation of Mangala and Athabasca Valles on Mars. LPSC XXXVI. Abstract 2261.
- ^ Cabrol, N. and E. Grin (eds.). 2010. Lakes on Mars. Elsevier. NY.
- ^ Emrick, C. and R. De Hon. 1999. Flood discharge through Labou Vallis, Mars. Lunar Planet. Sci. Conf. XXX: Abstract #1893.
- ^ Zimbelman, J. et al. 1992. Volatile history of Mangala Valles, Mars. J. Geophys. Res. 97: 18309-18317
- ^ De Hon, R. 1994. Lacustrine sedimentation in lower Mangals Valles. Mars Lunar Planet. Sci. Conf. XXVII: 295-296
- ^ Keskea, A., C. Hamilton, A. McEwen, I. Daubar. Episodes of fluvial and volcanic activity in Mangala Valles, Mars. Icarus:245, 333-347.
- ^ Catalog Page for PIA03827
- ^ The Planet Mars: A History of Observation and Discovery. Chapter 12: Mariner 9. University of Arizona Press
- ^ Leask, H. J., L. Wilson, and K. L. Mitchell (2007), Formation of Mangala Fossa, the source of the Mangala Valles, Mars: Morphological development as a result of volcano-cryosphere interactions, J. Geophys. Res., 112, E02011, doi:10.1029/2005JE002644.
- ^ Leask, H. J., L. Wilson, and K. L. Mitchell (2007), Formation of Mangala Valles outflow channel, Mars: Morphological development and water discharge and duration estimates, J. Geophys. Res., 112, E08003, doi:10.1029/2006JE002851.
- ^ http://www.lpi.usra.edu/meetings/lpsc2004/pdf/1147.pdf
- ^ http://www.lpi.usra.edu/meetings/lpsc2004/pdf/1151.pdf