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Gullies of Valles Marineris



A plateau and surrounding steep slopes within the Valles Marineris.
Click on image for full size version (82K GIF)
Image from: Malin Space Science Systems

This view of Valles Marineris shows debris-filled gullies with intervening rocky spurs, reminiscent of terrestrial canyons.

Layered rocks on Earth form from

  • sedimentary processes (such as those that formed the layered rocks now seen in Arizona's Grand Canyon) and
  • volcanic processes (such as layering seen in the Waimea Canyon on the island of Kauai).
Both origins are possible for the Martian layered rocks seen in Valles Marineris.

The layered rocks seen in these images indicates that there may have been a complex and extremely active early history for geologic processes on Mars.

Return to Martian surface & interior


Gullies of Valles Marineris



A plateau and surrounding steep slopes within the Valles Marineris.
Click on image for full size version (82K GIF)
Image from: Malin Space Science Systems

This view of Valles Marineris shows debris-filled gullies with intervening rocky spurs, reminiscent of terrestrial canyons.

Layered rocks on Earth form from

  • sedimentary processes (such as those that formed the layered rocks now seen in Arizona's Grand Canyon) and
  • volcanic processes (such as layering seen in the Waimea Canyon on the island of Kauai).
Both origins are possible for the Martian layered rocks seen in Valles Marineris.

The layered rocks seen in these images indicates that there may have been a complex and extremely active early history for geologic processes on Mars.

Return to Martian surface & interior


Gullies of Valles Marineris



A plateau and surrounding steep slopes within the Valles Marineris.
Click on image for full size version (82K GIF)
Image from: Malin Space Science Systems

This view of Valles Marineris shows debris-filled gullies very much like canyons on Earth.

The layered rocks seen in these images indicates that there may have been a complicated and active early history for geologic processes on Mars.

Return to Martian surface & interior



Last modified February 15, 1998 by the Windows Team

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