Cerberus Palus [SEP] located on astronomical body
Cerberus Palus
Cerberus Palus is a plain in the Elysium quadrangle of Mars, centered at . It is 470 km across and was named after a classical albedo feature Cerberus.
Cerberus Palus once contained a lake fed by Athabasca Valles and draining into Lethe Vallis. According to different researches, it could be a lake of water or lava. It is notable by giant plates (up to 50 km and more), similar to pack ice, but possibly pieces of lava crust. Gaps between the plates contain spiral
km, before debouching into the Cerberus Palus volcanic plain. Athabasca Valles is widely understood to be the youngest outflow channel on the planet.
Although researchers generally agree that the valley was formed by the catastrophic outpouring from the southernmost Cerberus Fossae fissure, the scientific community has not reached a consensus on the precise formation mechanism behind Athabasca Valles - both in the nature of the fluids that tracked through the valley, and in terms of later geologic events that have since resurfaced the region. Researchers concurrently propose a floodwater origin (akin to