A plateau and surrounding
steep slopes within the Valles Marineris.
Click on image for full size
Image from: Malin Space Science Systems
Gullies of Valles Marineris
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.
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