Breathtaking Images of Mars' Deuteronilus Mensae

Surprising new photos were presented by the ESA today, showing one of the most beautiful and unusual features on the surface of Mars. Deuteronilus Mensae is situated North of Arabia Terra, bordering the northern lowlands and the southern highlands.

At latitude of 39� North and 23� East, it's glacial formation with a large depression in the middle, 110 kilometers (68 miles) in diameter and 2000 meters (1.2 miles) in depth. The interesting thing about this feature is that at the center, there is a different kind of material, darker in color that makes the formation look like a huge dark spot on a reddish surface.

Steep valleys are also present, with depths ranging from 800 meters (2625 ft) to 1.2 kilometers (0.7 miles) and can be seen clearly in the pictures. Astronomers think these were formed by intense flooding by melted water ice, which then quickly froze and formed a glacier flowing down the slopes.

To the north of the region there is an elevation shaped like a finger, left untouched by the water and ice. More to the west, a drop-shaped formation, where water and ice mix broke through.

Deuteronilus Mensae shows different stages of highland degradation. Numerous flow patterns in wide valleys and along ridges and scarps indicate movement of debris mixed with ice towards the surrounding areas.

The images are very clear and precise and have a resolution of around 29 meters (95 ft) per picture. They have been taken on 14 March 2005 during orbit number 1483 of the Mars Express spacecraft.

This particular formation is not the only interesting and strange one on Mars, as the planet experienced numerous events of this kind in the past, usually when the magma that rose from the underground caused frozen groundwater to melt in major floods.

Landscapes like this one are good indicators of the climate changes throughout the history of a planet, and of whether ice could be still present in the porous spaces in Martian features or not.