Signs of Ancient Mars Lakes and Quakes Seen in New Map

NASA | DECEMBER 12, 2014

Long ago, in the largest canyon system in our solar system, vibrations from "marsquakes" shook soft sediments that had accumulated in Martian lakes.

Geological Mapping of Hills in Martian Canyon. Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Univ. of Arizona/USGS

The shaken sediments formed features that now appear as a series of low hills apparent in a geological map based on NASA images.

This map of the western Candor Chasma canyon within Mars' Valles Marineris is the highest-resolution Martian geological map ever relased by U.S. Geological Survey (USGS).

This new map shows that at the time these sediments were deposited, a part of west Candor Chasma, specifically Condor Colles, contained numerous shallow, spring-fed lakes. These lakes helped to trap wind-blown sand and dust, which accumulated over time and formed the extensive sedimentary deposits we see today.

The wet sediments experienced seismic shaking in "marsquakes" related to movement along several large geological faults in the area. A series of low hills resulted.

Valles Marineris is more than 4,000 kilometers long. The conditions under which sedimentary deposits in it formed have been an open issue for decades. Possibilities proposed have included accumulation in lakebeds, volcanic eruptions under glaciers within the canyons, and acculation of wind-blown sand and dust.

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