Mangala Valles [SEP] located on astronomical body
Mangala Valles
Mangala Valles is a complex system of criss-crossing channels on Mars, located in the Tharsis region and in the Memnonia quadrangle. It originates in the Hesperian and Amazonian epochs. It is thought to be an outflow channel, carved by catastrophic floods, and the release of vast quantities of water across the Martian surface. This flooding was probably initiated by tectonic stretching and the formation of a graben, Mangala Fossa, at the channels' head, perhaps breaching a pressurized aquifer trapped beneath a thick "cryosphere"
(layer of frozen ground) beneath the surface.
Mangala Valles contains several basins which filled, then the overflow went through a series of spillways. One source of waters for the system was Memonia Fossae, but water also probably came from a large basin centered at 40 degrees S.
A recent study that used photogeologic analysis, geomorphic surface mapping, cratering statistics, and relative stratigraphy, demonstrated that Mangala Valles was flooded by water at least twice and covered with lava at least three times during the Late Amazonian. The presence