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Science 21 September 2007:
Vol. 317. no. 5845, pp. 1709 - 1711
DOI: 10.1126/science.1143315
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Reports

Athabasca Valles, Mars: A Lava-Draped Channel System

W. L. Jaeger,1* L. P. Keszthelyi,1 A. S. McEwen,2 C. M. Dundas,2 P. S. Russell3

Athabasca Valles is a young outflow channel system on Mars that may have been carved by catastrophic water floods. However, images acquired by the High-Resolution Imaging Science Experiment camera onboard the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter spacecraft reveal that Athabasca Valles is now entirely draped by a thin layer of solidified lava—the remnant of a once-swollen river of molten rock. The lava erupted from a fissure, inundated the channels, and drained downstream in geologically recent times. Purported ice features in Athabasca Valles and its distal basin, Cerberus Palus, are actually composed of this lava. Similar volcanic processes may have operated in other ostensibly fluvial channels, which could explain in part why the landers sent to investigate sites of ancient flooding on Mars have predominantly found lava at the surface instead.

1 Astrogeology Team,U.S. Geological Survey, Flagstaff, AZ 86001, USA.
2 Lunar and Planetary Laboratory, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721, USA.
3 Physikalisches Institut, Universität Bern, CH-3012, Bern, Switzerland.

* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: wjaeger{at}usgs.gov

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THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
Discovery of columnar jointing on Mars.
M.P. Milazzo, L.P. Keszthelyi, W.L. Jaeger, M. Rosiek, S. Mattson, C. Verba, R.A. Beyer, P.E. Geissler, A.S. McEwen, and the HiRISE Team (2009)
Geology 37, 171-174
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Comment on "Athabasca Valles, Mars: A Lava-Draped Channel System".
D. P. Page (2008)
Science 320, 1588b
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Response to Comment on "Athabasca Valles, Mars: A Lava-Draped Channel System".
W. L. Jaeger, L. P. Keszthelyi, A. S. McEwen, T. N. Titus, C. M. Dundas, and P. S. Russell (2008)
Science 320, 1588c
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »


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