Mars The Red Planet

Surface of Mars

Except for earth, Mars has one of the most highly varied and great terrains out of all terrestrial planets, some terrain like canyons, sand dunes, or the most interesting of all "The face" on the surface are quite spectacular and interesting. Olympus Mons Is the largest mountain in the solar system, It rises as high as 24 kilometers (78,000 ft.) above the surrounding red plains of Mars. Its base is about 500 km in diameter. A cliff that is 6 km high rims it. Tharsis is an extremely huge bulge on the surface of mars that is about four thousand kilometers across and 10 kilometers high. There is a system of canyons on Mars called Valles Marineris. These canyons are 4000 kilometers long and about 2 to 7 kilometers deep. Mars has a huge impact crater in the southern hemisphere called Hellas Planitila It is over 6 kilometers deep and 2000 km in diameter. Most of the Martian surface is very old and cratered but there are some younger rift valleys, ridges, hills and plains. The southern hemisphere is really ancient and cratered highlands, really similar to the moon. Most of the northern hemisphere of Mars is made of planes that are much younger.

There is a lot of clear evidence of the erosion that has happened in many places on Mars, including large floods and river systems. Some time in the past, there was water on the surface. There could have been large lakes or even oceans. But, it seems that this happened for a short period of time and very long ago. The age of the erosions is about four billion years. Running water did not create Valles Marineris. It was formed as the crust of Mars was stretching and cracked.