Figure 36.16 Valles Marineris hemisphere of Mars.

Mosaic, composed of 102 Viking Orbiter images, of the Valles Marineris hemisphere of Mars projected into point perspective, a view similar to what one would see from a spacecraft. The viewer's distance is 2500 km from the surface of the planet. The center of the photo shows the entire Valles Marineris canyon system, over 3000 km long and up to 8 km deep and 200 km wide in places. Several of Earth's Grand Canyons--446 km long, 30 km wide, and 1.6 km deep--would fit into the mammoth Valles Marineris. The structure extends from Noctis Labyrinthus, the arcuate system of graben to the west, to the chaotic terrain to the east. Many huge ancient river channels begin from the chaotic terrain and north-central canyons and run north. A number of the channels flowed into a basin called Acidalia Planitia, which is the dark area in the extreme north of this picture. South of Valles Marineris is very ancient terrain covered by many impact craters. (NASA/JPL)

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