After The Flood: Ancient Waters Carved These Martian Channels

(Before It's News)

A December 2013 image of Osuga Valles taken by the European Space Agency’s Mars Express spacecraft, highlighted by the agency in April 2014. Credit: ESA/DLR/FU Berlin

This picture is an example of why Martian scientists like to get their groove on. This late 2013 snapshot of Osuga Valles — a part of the vast Valles Marineris gorge that cuts across the Red Planet — shows the leftovers of an ancient flood. The European Space Agency highlighted the area in a release this week.

“Catastrophic flooding is thought to have created the heavily eroded Osuga Valles and the features within it. Streamlines around the islands in the valley indicate that the direction of flow was towards the northeast … and sets of parallel, narrow grooves on the floor of the channel suggest that the water was fast flowing,” the European Space Agency stated.

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Read the rest of After The Flood: Ancient Waters Carved These Martian Channels (151 words)

© Elizabeth Howell for Universe Today, 2014. |
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Post tags: flood channel, Mars Express

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