Valles Marineris: The Grand Canyon of Mars

Valles Marineris: The Grand Canyon of Mars

Image Credit:
NASA,
USGS,
Viking Project

Explanation:
The largest canyon in the
Solar System
cuts a wide swath across the face of
Mars.

Named Valles Marineris,
the grand valley extends over 3,000 kilometers long, spans as much as
600 kilometers across, and delves as much as 8 kilometers deep.

By comparison, the
Earth’s Grand Canyon
in Arizona, USA is 800 kilometers long, 30 kilometers across,
and 1.8 kilometers deep.

The origin of the Valles Marineris remains unknown,
although a leading hypothesis holds that it started as a
crack billions of years ago as the planet cooled.

Several geologic processes have been identified in
the canyon.

The featured mosaic was

created from over 100 images of
Mars taken by
Viking Orbiters in the 1970s.