How the Grand Canyon compares with Mars’ Valles Marineris
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Valles Marineris is a vast canyon system on the surface of Mars that is often referred to as the “Grand Canyon of Mars.” It is one of the planet’s most prominent and impressive tectonic features.
Valles Marineris stretches for approximately 4,000 kilometers (2,500 miles) across the Martian surface, making it one of the longest canyons in the solar system. It is also quite deep, with depths reaching up to 7 kilometers (4.3 miles) in some places. To put this in perspective, Valles Marineris is more than ten times longer and five times more profound than the Grand Canyon on Earth.
Valles Marineris is not a single continuous canyon but rather a complex system of interconnected canyons, troughs, and valleys. It contains various features, such as cliffs, ridges, mesas, and valleys. Some sections of the canyon system are wider, while others are narrower and more rugged.
The exact process that formed Valles Marineris is not fully understood, but it is believed to be the result of a combination of tectonic, volcanic, and erosional processes.
The canyons are clearly tectonic in nature. It’s a large tectonic “crack” in the Martian crust. Most scientists believe that the canyon was formed over billions of years as the crust thickened in the Tharsis region to the west, and was subsequently widened by erosion.
Valles Marineris has been of great interest to planetary scientists, and various missions to Mars have captured images and data from this region. Spacecraft like the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter and the Mars rovers have provided detailed images and data that have contributed to our understanding of the canyon’s geology and history.
Valles Marineris presents a fascinating area for potential future exploration, both robotic and human. The unique geological features and the exposed rock layers could offer valuable information about Mars’ past and the possibility of past or present microbial life. Additionally, the canyon’s depth and shape could offer shelter and protection for future human missions to Mars.
Want to learn more about Mars? Then have a look at:
When did France invaded Great Britain ? … back in 1066 by William the Conqueror !
Iraq is shown with only air-strike but during Desert Storm the Daguet Division fought on the ground.
Moreover what is the point of coloring a whole country according to nowaday borders when the invasion was very limited ?
For instance the French India was limited to 512 km2.
There is so many problems with that map to be of any use.
When did the French invade Greenland or Iceland? Are Finland and the Baltics included because they were once part of the Russian Empire, and Napoleon invaded Russia way back when?
This seems a bit … sweeping.
Iceland and Greenland were colonies of Denmark