This new image is High resolution stereo camera (HRSC) on board ESA's Mars Express spacecraft Calaris ChaosIt is the collapsed and dried-up remains of a vast ancient Martian lake called Lake Eridania.
This image taken by ESA's Mars Express shows Karalis Chaos, a region on Mars that is thought to have once held abundant water in the form of an ancient lake known as Lake Eridania. Image credit: ESA / DLR / Free University Berlin.
Lake Eridania once held more water than all other lakes on Mars combined, covering an area of over 1 million km.2.
The lake was larger than any known lake on Earth, containing nearly three times the volume of water as the Caspian Sea.
It probably first existed as one large body of water about 3.7 billion years ago, and then as it began to dry out, it emerged as a series of smaller, isolated lakes.
Eventually Lake Eridania disappeared entirely, along with the rest of the Red Planet's water.
“The bottom left portion of the frame reveals remnants of an ancient lake bed,” Mars Express researchers said.
“The boundary of this layer can be seen curving upward from the center of the frame, surrounding a large central crater.”
“The old lake bed is now filled with many raised banks, which are thought to have formed when ancient Martian winds blew dust across Mars.”
“This dust was then covered with water, transformed, and dried up again and broke apart.”
In addition to water, there are clear signs of volcanic activity in and around this area, known as Karalis Chaos.
“The image shows two long cracks running horizontally, crossing both the lake bed and the smoother ground above,” the scientists said.
“These are known as the Sirenum-Fossae faults, and they formed when the Tharsis region of Mars, home to the solar system's largest volcanoes, rose up, putting enormous pressure on the Martian crust.”
“A lot of the wrinkled ridges you see here are also the result of volcanic pressure.”
“These appear as wavy lines running vertically across the frame.”
“Wrinkle ridges are common in volcanic plains and form when new lava layers compress, buckle and deform while still soft and elastic.”
“Also interesting is this impact crater, created by a space rock colliding with Mars.”
Source: www.sci.news
