Juventae Chasma is an enormous

box canyon A canyon (from ; archaic British English spelling: ''cañon''), or gorge, is a deep cleft between escarpments or cliffs resulting from weathering and the erosive activity of a river over geologic time scales. Rivers have a natural tendency to cu ...

(250 km × 100 km) on

Mars Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun and the second-smallest planet in the Solar System, only being larger than Mercury. In the English language, Mars is named for the Roman god of war. Mars is a terrestrial planet with a thin at ...

which opens to the north and forms the outflow channel

Maja Valles The Maja Valles are a large system of ancient outflow channels in the Lunae Palus quadrangle on Mars. Their location is 12.6° north latitude and 58.3° west longitude. The name is a Nepali word for "Mars". The Maja Valles begin at Juventae Chasma. ...

. Juventae Chasma is located north of

Valles Marineris Valles Marineris (; Latin for '' Mariner Valleys'', named after the ''Mariner 9'' Mars orbiter of 1971–72 which discovered it) is a system of canyons that runs along the Martian surface east of the Tharsis region. At more than long, wide and ...

in the Coprates quadrangle and cuts more than 5 km into the plains of

Lunae Planum The Lunae Palus quadrangle is one of a series of 30 quadrangle maps of Mars used by the United States Geological Survey (USGS) Astrogeology Research Program. The quadrangle is also referred to as MC-10 (Mars Chart-10). Lunae Planum and parts of ...

Name

Juventae was named by

Giovanni Schiaparelli Giovanni Virginio Schiaparelli ( , also , ; 14 March 1835 – 4 July 1910) was an Italian astronomer and science historian. Biography He studied at the University of Turin, graduating in 1854, and later did research at Berlin Observatory, ...

after the mythical ''Juventae Fons'', the

fountain of youth The Fountain of Youth is a mythical spring which allegedly restores the youth of anyone who drinks or bathes in its waters. Tales of such a fountain have been recounted around the world for thousands of years, appearing in the writings of Herod ...

Observations

The floor of Juventae Chasma is partly covered by

sand dune A dune is a landform composed of wind- or water-driven sand. It typically takes the form of a mound, ridge, or hill. An area with dunes is called a dune system or a dune complex. A large dune complex is called a dune field, while broad, f ...

s. There is also a 2.5 km high mountain inside Juventae, 59 km long and 23 km wide, that was confirmed by

Mars Express ''Mars Express'' is a space exploration mission being conducted by the European Space Agency (ESA). The ''Mars Express'' mission is exploring the planet Mars, and is the first planetary mission attempted by the agency. "Express" originally ref ...

to be composed of

sulfate The sulfate or sulphate ion is a polyatomic anion with the empirical formula . Salts, acid derivatives, and peroxides of sulfate are widely used in industry. Sulfates occur widely in everyday life. Sulfates are salts of sulfuric acid and many ...

deposits. MRO discovered sulfates, hydrated sulfates, and iron oxides in Juventae Chasma. Juventae Chasma has four bright mounds or light-toned interior layered deposits (IlD's), as they are often called. Researchers have found that monohydrated sulfates were first deposited on the floor. And then polyhydrated sulfates were laid down.

Kieserite Kieserite, or magnesium sulfate monohydrate, is a hydrous magnesium sulfate mineral with formula (MgSO4·H2O). It has a vitreous luster and it is colorless, grayish-white or yellowish. Its hardness is 3.5 and crystallizes in the monoclinic cry ...

, a magnesium sulfate, was also found in Juventae Chasma. Studies from satellites orbiting Mars have found channels on the eastern, western, and southern walls of Juventae Chasma. They seem to have different origins. Some may have started from melting snow, others from groundwater sapping, and still others from precipitation. Inverted channels are also present.

Inverted relief Inverted relief, inverted topography, or topographic inversion refers to landscape features that have reversed their elevation relative to other features. It most often occurs when low areas of a landscape become filled with lava or sediment ...

that are visible in Juventae Chasma are also visible in other parts of Mars. This occurs when sediments are deposited on the floor of a stream and then become resistant to erosion, perhaps by cementation. Later the area may be buried. Eventually, erosion removes the covering layer and the former streams become visible since they are resistant to erosion. Mars Global Surveyor found several examples of this process. Image:Juventae Chasma.jpg, Light toned sedimentary outcrops on the floor of Juventae Chasma. Image:Juventae Chasma Troughs.JPG, Juventae Chasma Troughs, as seen by

HiRISE High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment is a camera on board the '' Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter'' which has been orbiting and studying Mars since 2006. The 65 kg (143 lb), US$40 million instrument was built under the direction ...

. Image:Inverted Streams in Juventae Chasma.jpg, Inverted Streams near Juventae Chasma, as seen by

Mars Global Surveyor ''Mars Global Surveyor'' (MGS) was an American robotic space probe developed by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory and launched November 1996. MGS was a global mapping mission that examined the entire planet, from the ionosphere down through t ...

. These streams begin at the top of a ridge then run together. Image:Juventae Chasma Inverted Channels.JPG, Inverted Channels near Juventae Chasma, as seen by

. Channels were once regular stream channels. Scale bar is 500 meters long. Image:Juventae Chasma Layers.JPG, Layers west of Juventae Chasma, as seen by

. Scale bar is 500 meters long. Image:Plateau near Juventae Chasma.jpg, Plateau near Juventae Chasma.

Name

Observations

References

See also