Marte Vallis

Marte Vallis
Streamlined Island in Marte Vallis, as seen by HiRISE. The enlarged image gives a good view of dark slope streaks. Island is just to the west of Pettit Crater. Scale bar is 500 meters long.
Coordinates	15°00′N 176°30′W / 15°N 176.5°W / 15; -176.5Coordinates: 15°00′N 176°30′W / 15°N 176.5°W / 15; -176.5
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Columnar jointing in basalt, Marte Vallis. Image courtesy High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment, University of Arizona.^[1]

Marte Vallis is a valley in the Amazonis quadrangle of Mars, located at 15 North and 176.5 West. It is 185 km long and was named for the Spanish word for "Mars".^[2] It has been identified as an outflow channel, carved in the geological past by catastrophic release of water from aquifers beneath the Martian surface.^[3]

Marte Vallis is the site of the first discovery of columnar jointing on Mars. ^[1]

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  Columinar Jointing in Yellowstone National Park.

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  Columnar jointing in the basalt of the Giant's Causeway in Ireland

References

1. ^ ^{a b} Milazzo, M.P., Keszthelyi, L.P., Jaeger, W.L. Rosiek, M., Mattson, S., Verba, C., Beyer, R.A., Geissler, P.E., McEwen, A.S., and the HiRISE Team. (2009) Discovery of columnar jointing on Mars. Geology. 37(2), 171–174. Abstract
2. ^ http://planetarynames.wr.usgs.gov/
3. ^ Carr, M.H. (2006), The Surface of Mars. Cambridge Planetary Science Series, Cambridge University Press.