Valles Marineris and Olympus Mons: Tharsis Region of Mars
by Owen Borville
June 11, 2024
Mars' Valles Marineris is the largest canyon in our solar system.
This canyon system is 4000 km long on Mars' equator surface, up to 600 km wide, and up to 8 km deep. This length is comparable to the length of the United States.
Valles Marineris canyon likely formed as the planet thermally expanded and has since cooled off, allowing the forming this large tectonic crack in the crust of the planet.
Valles Marineris is almost ten times longer, 20 times wider, and five times deeper than the Grand Canyon of the United States. The length of Valles Marineris is almost one fifth of the circumference of Mars.
The rising crust in the Tharsis bulge region of Mars to the west of Valles Marineris was key to the formation of the canyon. The central part of the Valles Marineris is full of permafrost, or water ice soil.
The formation of the canyon is likely from rift faults and later erosion and collapse of the rift walls. Some parts of the canyon may have been formed by water erosion or carbon dioxide.
The canyon could also have been eroded from lava from a nearby volcano, Pavonis Mons.
Olympus Mons, or Mount Olympus, is a large shield volcano on the surface of Mars, 22 km tall, three times taller than Mount Everest.
Olympus is the tallest volcano in our Solar System and is located on the Mars surface in the volcanic region of Tharsis Montes, where three massive shield volcanoes exist near the Mars equator and the Tharsis bulge region hot spot.
These three shield volcanoes are positioned in a straight line just southeast of Olympis Mons and west of Valles Marineris.
The Tharsis region showcases the intense volcanic activity of Mars' past.
The many canyons on the rocky planets of our solar system, Earth, Mercury, Venus, Mars, and the moons of the planets in our solar system showcase an intense volcanic past that has since cooled off and contracted.
by Owen Borville
June 11, 2024
Mars' Valles Marineris is the largest canyon in our solar system.
This canyon system is 4000 km long on Mars' equator surface, up to 600 km wide, and up to 8 km deep. This length is comparable to the length of the United States.
Valles Marineris canyon likely formed as the planet thermally expanded and has since cooled off, allowing the forming this large tectonic crack in the crust of the planet.
Valles Marineris is almost ten times longer, 20 times wider, and five times deeper than the Grand Canyon of the United States. The length of Valles Marineris is almost one fifth of the circumference of Mars.
The rising crust in the Tharsis bulge region of Mars to the west of Valles Marineris was key to the formation of the canyon. The central part of the Valles Marineris is full of permafrost, or water ice soil.
The formation of the canyon is likely from rift faults and later erosion and collapse of the rift walls. Some parts of the canyon may have been formed by water erosion or carbon dioxide.
The canyon could also have been eroded from lava from a nearby volcano, Pavonis Mons.
Olympus Mons, or Mount Olympus, is a large shield volcano on the surface of Mars, 22 km tall, three times taller than Mount Everest.
Olympus is the tallest volcano in our Solar System and is located on the Mars surface in the volcanic region of Tharsis Montes, where three massive shield volcanoes exist near the Mars equator and the Tharsis bulge region hot spot.
These three shield volcanoes are positioned in a straight line just southeast of Olympis Mons and west of Valles Marineris.
The Tharsis region showcases the intense volcanic activity of Mars' past.
The many canyons on the rocky planets of our solar system, Earth, Mercury, Venus, Mars, and the moons of the planets in our solar system showcase an intense volcanic past that has since cooled off and contracted.
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U.S. Geological Survey
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NASA (Valles Marineris)
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NASA. Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter (MOLA) colorized topographic map of the western hemisphere of Mars, showing the Tharsis and Valles Marineris regions.
North Polar Basin (Borealis Basin)
To the north of the Tharsis and Valles Marineris region is the North Polar Basin, also known as Borealis Basin, which is a large basin on the planet Mars that covers 40 percent of the surface and most of the northern hemisphere of the planet surface (9,500 km average diameter or 10,600 km at its longest diameter length).
Scientists are not sure of the origin or formation of this basin, and some scientists speculate a single large impact collision. However, the basin is not categorized as an impact basin by the IAU (International Astronomical Union).
This basin is one of the flattest areas in the Solar System, has few craters, and has an elliptical shape.
Astronomers also theorize that the proposed impact could have formed the two moons of Mars, Phobos, and Deimos. However, these moons have near circular orbits and low inclination relative to the Mars equator rules out the capture hypothesis.
Other theories claim that the moons of Mars formed by accretion.
Lomonosov crater (150 km diameter) inside the Borealis Basin, is the most likely evidence of an impact that caused a tsunami.
Regardless of the cause of the formation of the Borealis Basin, the effect of its formation was immense.
Mars: Former Magnetic Field
To the north of the Tharsis and Valles Marineris region is the North Polar Basin, also known as Borealis Basin, which is a large basin on the planet Mars that covers 40 percent of the surface and most of the northern hemisphere of the planet surface (9,500 km average diameter or 10,600 km at its longest diameter length).
Scientists are not sure of the origin or formation of this basin, and some scientists speculate a single large impact collision. However, the basin is not categorized as an impact basin by the IAU (International Astronomical Union).
This basin is one of the flattest areas in the Solar System, has few craters, and has an elliptical shape.
Astronomers also theorize that the proposed impact could have formed the two moons of Mars, Phobos, and Deimos. However, these moons have near circular orbits and low inclination relative to the Mars equator rules out the capture hypothesis.
Other theories claim that the moons of Mars formed by accretion.
Lomonosov crater (150 km diameter) inside the Borealis Basin, is the most likely evidence of an impact that caused a tsunami.
Regardless of the cause of the formation of the Borealis Basin, the effect of its formation was immense.
Mars: Former Magnetic Field