Juventae Chasma

Juventae Chasma

Juventae Chasma in mosaic of THEMIS infrared images. Maja Valles extends north from the top of the image. Part of Baetis Chaos is visible at the top, with a smaller chaos region to its right.
Coordinates 3°30′S 61°24′W / 3.5°S 61.4°W / -3.5; -61.4Coordinates: 3°30′S 61°24′W / 3.5°S 61.4°W / -3.5; -61.4
Length 320.0

Juventae Chasma is an enormous box canyon (250 km × 100 km) on Mars which opens to the north and forms the outflow channel Maja Valles.[1]

Juventae Chasma is located north of Valles Marineris in the Coprates quadrangle and cuts more than 5 km into the plains of Lunae Planum. The floor of Juventae Chasma is partly covered by sand dunes. There is also a 2.5 km high mountain inside Juventae, 59 km long and 23 km wide, that was confirmed by Mars Express to be composed of sulfate deposits.[2] MRO discovered sulfates, hydrated sulfates, and iron oxides in Juventae Chasma.[3] Juventae Chasma has four bright mounds or light-toned interior layered deposits (IlD's), as they are often called. Researchers have found that monohydrated sulfates were first deposited on the floor. And then polyhydrated sulfates were laid down. Kieserite, a magnesium sulfate, was also found in Juventae Chasma.[4]

References

  1. PIA03818: Floor of Juventae Chasma
  2. Sulphate deposits in Juventae Chasma
  3. Murchie, S. et al. 2009. A synthesis of Martian aqueous mineralogy after 1 Mars year of observations from the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. Journal of Geophysical Research: 114.
  4. Noel, A., J. Bishop, M. Al-Samir, C. Gross, J. Flahaut, P. McGuire, C. Weitz, F. Seelos, S. Murchie. 2015. Mineralogy, morphology and stratigraphy of the light-toned interior layered deposits at Juventae Chasma. Icarus: 251, 315–331

See also

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