Mariner Valleys the biggest canyon in the Solar System

Mariner Valleys the biggest canyon in the Solar System
Beautiful photographs taken by NASA World Wind show Mariner Valleys, the largest canyon in the solar system, that crosses the disk of Mars with wide strip. This huge valley called Valles Marineris, has a length of more than 3,000 miles, its width reaches 600 kilometers, and the depth – 8 km. Located along the equator of Mars, on the east side of the Tharsis Bulge, Valles Mariner stretches for nearly a quarter of the planet’s circumference.

However, Origin of Valles Marineris remains unknown. Meanwhile, the most likely hypothesis is that it appeared as a crack billions of years ago when the planet was cooling. In addition, canyon geological processes continue.

Divided into several areas, at the west end area it is called Midnight maze, east – Teton Canyon and Io, followed by Milas and Ophir, more to the east – Coprates, Ganges, Eos and Capri. Then there are the areas of destroyed relief, called Chaos, which terminate in a plain Rhys.

Mariner Valleys the biggest canyon in the Solar System

Valles Marineris extended so much that when on one of its ends is already night, the other end is still illuminated by daylight. The result is the difference in temperature, and as a consequence – powerful wind blowing throughout the canyon.

For comparison, the Earth’s Grand Canyon in the United States has a length of 800 kilometers and a width of 30 kilometers and a depth of 1.8 kilometers. If Valles Marineris place in the United States, it would stretch across the state, from the Atlantic to the Pacific.

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