The Ladon Valles are a river valley system lying within the
Margaritifer Sinus quadrangle
The Margaritifer Sinus quadrangle is one of a series of list of quadrangles on Mars, 30 quadrangle maps of Mars used by the United States Geological Survey (USGS) Astrogeology Research Program. The Margaritifer Sinus quadrangle is also referred ...
(MC-19) region of the planet
Mars
Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun. It is also known as the "Red Planet", because of its orange-red appearance. Mars is a desert-like rocky planet with a tenuous carbon dioxide () atmosphere. At the average surface level the atmosph ...
located at 22.6° South and 28.7° West. They are 278 km long and were named after an ancient name for a
Greek
Greek may refer to:
Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe:
*Greeks, an ethnic group
*Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family
**Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...
river.
It has been argued that
Uzboi, Ladon, Margaritifer and
Ares
Ares (; , ''Árēs'' ) is the List of Greek deities, Greek god of war god, war and courage. He is one of the Twelve Olympians, and the son of Zeus and Hera. The Greeks were ambivalent towards him. He embodies the physical valor necessary for ...
valles, although now separated by large craters, once comprised a single
outflow channel
Outflow channels are extremely long, wide swathes of scoured ground on Mars.Carr, M.H. (2006), ''The Surface of Mars''. Cambridge Planetary Science Series, Cambridge University Press. They extend many hundreds of kilometers in length and are typ ...
system flowing north into
Chryse Planitia.
[Parker, T.J., Clifford, S.m., and Banerdt, W.B. (2000). Argyre Planitia and the Mars global hydrologic cycle. LPSC XXXI, Abstract 2033.] The source of this outflow has been suggested as overflow from the
Argyre crater, formerly filled to the brim as a
lake
A lake is often a naturally occurring, relatively large and fixed body of water on or near the Earth's surface. It is localized in a basin or interconnected basins surrounded by dry land. Lakes lie completely on land and are separate from ...
by channels (Surius, Dzigai, and Palacopus valles) draining down from the south pole. If real, the full length of this drainage system would be over 8000 km, the longest known drainage path in the
Solar System
The Solar SystemCapitalization of the name varies. The International Astronomical Union, the authoritative body regarding astronomical nomenclature, specifies capitalizing the names of all individual astronomical objects but uses mixed "Sola ...
.
Mapjones.jpg, Map showing locations of the Ladon Valles and other nearby valleys
See also
*
Geology of Mars
The geology of Mars is the scientific study of the surface, crust, and interior of the planet Mars. It emphasizes the composition, structure, history, and physical processes that shape the planet. It is analogous to the field of terrestrial geo ...
*
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 ...
*
Lakes on Mars
In summer 1965, the first close-up images from Mars showed a cratered desert with no signs of water. However, over the decades, as more parts of the planet were imaged with better cameras on more sophisticated satellites, Mars showed evidence ...
*
Outflow channels
Outflow channels are extremely long, wide swathes of scoured ground on Mars.Carr, M.H. (2006), ''The Surface of Mars''. Cambridge Planetary Science Series, Cambridge University Press. They extend many hundreds of kilometers in length and are typi ...
*
Uzboi-Landon-Morava (ULM)
*
Vallis (planetary geology)
''Vallis'' or ''valles'' (plural ''valles'' ) is the Latin word for ''valley''. It is used in planetary geology to name landform features on other planets.
Scientists used ''vallis'' for old river valleys they discovered when they sent the first ...
*
Water on Mars
Although very small amounts of liquid water may occur transiently on the surface of Mars, limited to traces of dissolved moisture from the atmosphere and thin films, large quantities of ice are present on and under the surface. Small amounts of ...
References
External links
High resolutionvideos
by Seán Doran of overflights of parts of Ladon Valles
Margaritifer Sinus quadrangle
Valleys and canyons on Mars
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