Peace Vallis

Peace Vallis

Peace Vallis and related alluvial fan near the Curiosity rover landing ellipse and landing site ("Bradbury Landing") (noted by +).
Coordinates 4°13′S 137°14′E / 4.21°S 137.23°E / -4.21; 137.23Coordinates: 4°13′S 137°14′E / 4.21°S 137.23°E / -4.21; 137.23
Length 35.24 km (21.90 mi)
Naming adopted by the IAU on September 26, 2012 after a "River in British Columbia and Alberta, Canada".[1]

Peace Vallis is an outflow channel in Gale Crater in the Aeolis quadrangle on the planet Mars; it appears to have been carved by fluids, perhaps water.[2][3][4] The valley 'flows' southeast down out of the hills of Gale Crater to Aeolis Palus below near "Mount Sharp" and is centered 4°13′S 137°14′E / 4.21°S 137.23°E / -4.21; 137.23.[1] Peace Vallis is near the landing site ("Bradbury Landing") of the Curiosity rover which started studying the valley in 2012. The name, Peace Vallis, was officially adopted by the IAU on September 26, 2012.[1]

Evidence of water on Mars near Peace Vallis[2][3][4]
"Hottah" rock outcrop on Mars - an ancient streambed viewed by the Curiosity rover (September 14, 2012) (close-up) (3-D version).
"Link" rock outcrop on Mars - compared with a terrestrialfluvial conglomerate - suggesting water "vigorously" flowing in a stream.
Curiosity rover on the way to Glenelg (September 26, 2012).

Curiosity rover landed near the end of the Peace Vallis fan. Peace Vallis fan covers 80 km2 and obtained water from an area of 730 km2. Peace Vallis enters Gale Crater through a 15 km wide gap in its rim. Calculations suggest that the fan has an average thickness of 9 m. Numerous inverted channels are visible on the western surface of the fan. Runoff through Peace Vallis that made the fan is estimated to be between 600 and 6000 m; therefore a hydrologic cycle probably lasted at least thousands of years. The water that flowed in Peace Vallis is believed to be from precipitation maybe in the form of snow.[5] [6]

Images

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 IAU Staff (September 26, 2012). "Gazeteer of Planetary Nomenclature: Peace Vallis". IAU. Retrieved September 28, 2012.
  2. 1 2 Brown, Dwayne; Cole, Steve; Webster, Guy; Agle, D.C. (September 27, 2012). "NASA Rover Finds Old Streambed On Martian Surface". NASA. Retrieved September 28, 2012.
  3. 1 2 NASA (September 27, 2012). "NASA's Curiosity Rover Finds Old Streambed on Mars - video (51:40)". NASAtelevision. Retrieved September 28, 2012.
  4. 1 2 Chang, Alicia (September 27, 2012). "Mars rover Curiosity finds signs of ancient stream". AP News. Retrieved September 27, 2012.
  5. ↑ http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/2013JE004583/abstract
  6. ↑ Palucis, M., W. Dietrich, A. Hayes, R. Williams, S. Gupta, N. Mangold, H. Newsom, C. Hardgrove, F. Calef III, D. Sumne. 2014. The origin and evolution of the Peace Vallis fan system that drains to the Curiosity landing area, Gale Crater, Mars. Journay of Geophysical Research Planets: 119, 705-728.
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