Kasei Valles

Scaled Image

Image Credit: NASA/JPL/ASU

About this image

Kasei Valles (Kasei is the Japanese word for Mars) is one of the largest outflow channels on Mars. Kasei Valles stretches some 2,000 km across the face of Mars and empties into the Chryse basin. This THEMIS image is of the northern branch of Kasei Valles and shows the channel floor and northern channel wall. The plateau surface located at the top of this image is more heavily cratered than the channel floor which indicates that the plateau is older than the channel floor. The wall of the plateau has spur and gully topography present. The floor of the channel has evidence of fluvial scour including a smaller inner channel. These features were probably carved out during waning stage flow. The probable causes of Martian floods are massive releases of subsurface water/ice due to possible subsurface volcanic activity. Martian outflow channels begin at point sources (chaotic terrain and box canyons) and then flow unconfined into a basin region.

Please see the THEMIS Data Citation Note for details on crediting THEMIS images. 

Context

Image ID: 
V01138007 (View data in Mars Image Explorer)
30.9665
300.788
1138
2002-03-18 00:12
Thu, 2002-05-09
VIS
1024 pixels (19 km)
3648 pixels (68 km)
0.018672 km/pixel
0.018808 km/pixel

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