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This is an image of a Martian river valley. Click on image for full size version (40K GIF) Image from: NASA

Unlike the Martian outflow channels, these Martian river valleys exhibit many tributaries.

These river valleys do not resemble their terrestrial counterparts either, however. The tributaries are very short, on the order of 100m (the length of a football field), as if the running water ran out quickly.

One explanation for these is that they formed from melting ground ice. The ground ice could have melted either from a global warming episode, a local warming episode due to volcanic activity, or from hydrothermal activity, where water circulating underground affected the surface. (Evidence of hydrothermal activity has implications for life on Mars.)

This is an image of a Martian river valley. Click on image for full size version (40K GIF) Image from: NASA

Unlike the Martian outflow channels, these Martian river valleys have many tributaries.

These river valleys do not resemble their terrestrial counterparts either, however. The tributaries are very short, about 100m long (the length of a football field), as if the running water ran out quickly.

One explanation for these is that they formed from melting ground ice. The ground ice could have melted either from a period of global warming, a period of local warming due either to volcanic activity, or from water circulating underground. (Evidence of underground circulation of water has implications for life on Mars.)

This is an image of a Martian river valley. Click on image for full size version (40K GIF) Image from: NASA

These river valleys do not resemble river valleys on Earth. They are very short, about as long as a football field. Because they are so short, it would seem that the running water ran out very quickly.