2024-01-22 17:48:02
Ancient Martian riverbed at Aeolis Planum – NASA/JPL-CALTECH/UARIZONA
MADRID, 22 Ene. (EUROPA PRESS) –
This image of the ridges in Aeolis Planea geological formation near the Martian equator, tells the story of ancient rivers and a very different Mars than today.
The HiRYSE camera aboard the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) spacecraft took this photograph in August 2023 and it has now been published on the University of Arizona website dedicated to this instrument.
river beds often filled with gravel and the surrounding terrain is usually made up of fine-grained mud from river overflows. The river’s rocky bottom and fine-grained environment can cause a strange phenomenon that geologists call inverted channels. Once the river disappears, the fine-grained surroundings can easily erode leaving the gravel river bed as a high-rise ridge, according to a statement explanation of the image.
These ridges show the location of ancient river beds in Mars’ distant past. The angle at which the crests meet indicates that these rivers flowed from top right to bottom left, i.e. in a southwest direction.
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