Valles Marineris is a formation similar to the African Rift Valley on Earth. In essence, it is a channel of immense proportions that was discovered by NASA’s Mariner 9 probe in 1972.
It is a vast system of canyons that runs along the equator of Mars to the east of the Tharsis region. It is more than 4,000 kilometers long and has a depth of up to 7 kilometers.
For comparison, Valles Marineris is ten times longer and four times deeper than the Grand Canyon of the Colorado in the United States.
There is a good deal of scientific consensus that Valles Marineris is a large tectonic rift caused by the cooling of the planet. Not in vain, it covers almost 20% of the equatorial circumference of the red planet, from Noctis Labyrinthus to the west, to the rugged territory of the east.
As a curiosity, the widest area of this immense Martian channel, called Melas Chasma, contains “fields of dune walls” formed by sand; some dunes that are quite rare on Mars (not so on our planet).
Other interesting areas of Mars would be:
Tharsis Montes: Where we can find the largest volcanoes in the solar system.
Polar caps: Planum Boreum in the north and Planum Australe in the south.
Hellas Planitia: This 2,250 kilometer basin was created by a colossal asteroid. It is one of the most visible impact craters on Mars.
Gale Crater: The ancient lake in Gale Crater on Mars may actually have been a small pond, according to the latest data.
Elysium Planitia: It is the second largest volcanic region on Mars. Its three main peaks stand out: Hecates Tholus, Albor Tholus and Elysium Mons.
Utopia Planitia: It is the largest impact crater in the solar system with a “scalloped topography”.
Vastitas Borealis : Located in the northern lowlands, the wide swathes of this wasteland may once have contained an ocean.
Olympus Mons: Mount Olympus is the largest volcano and the largest known mountain in the solar system. It rises 25 km above the surface and its diameter is 602 km.
Bagnold Dune Fields : These crescent-shaped dunes are noted for their convex shape to the lee.
Syrtis Major Planum: The largest Martian dark spot.
