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Science 21 June 2002:
Vol. 296. no. 5576, pp. 2209 - 2212
DOI: 10.1126/science.1071143
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Reports

A Large Paleolake Basin at the Head of Ma'adim Vallis, Mars

Rossman P. Irwin III,12* Ted A. Maxwell,1 Alan D. Howard,2 Robert A. Craddock,1 David W. Leverington1

At 8 to 15 kilometers wide, Ma'adim Vallis is one of the largest valleys in the martian highlands. Although a groundwater source was previously suggested, the channel originates at a spillway in the divide of a ~3,000,000-square-kilometer closed drainage basin. The interior morphology of this source basin, including likely shoreline features following topographic contours, suggests that Ma'adim Vallis was created through catastrophic overflow of a ~1,100,000-square-kilometer highland lake. The size, constant levels, and interior morphology of three regional paleolake basins require a warmer paleoclimate and a long-term, recharged, stable highland water table more than ~3.5 billion years ago.

1 Center for Earth and Planetary Studies, National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC 20560, USA.
2 Department of Environmental Sciences, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA 22904, USA.
*   To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: Irwinr{at}nasm.si.edu

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