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Enigmatic Channels on the Floor of Mangala Valles

Oct. 30, 2013
This particular area, called Mangala Valles and located near the Tharsis region, may be an example of the action of liquid water in the ancient Martian past. This image is from NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter.

This particular area, called Mangala Valles and located near the Tharsis region, may be an example of the action of liquid water in the ancient Martian past.

It's possible that the wide and short channels visible here may have formed by the motion of groundwater, similar to way channels like these form on Earth.

HiRISE is one of six instruments on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. The University of Arizona, Tucson, operates the orbiter's HiRISE camera, which was built by Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp., Boulder, Colo. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Project for the NASA Science Mission Directorate, Washington.

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