Claritas Fossae Channel

Today's VIS image shows a large unnamed channel on the western edge of Claritas Fossae. Just off this image the channel empties into a crater where it has formed a delta. Deltas are formed when sediment laden rivers slow down - either due to a flattening of topography, or entering a standing body of water. The reduction in velocity causes the sediments to be deposited. The main channel often diverges into numerous smaller channel that spread apart to form the typical fan shape of a delta.