ESA Reveals 800-Mile Mars Valley Carved by Floods 3.5 Billion Years Ago

7 articles · Updated · Space.com · May 15

New Mars Express images released May 13 spotlight Shalbatana Vallis, an 800-mile channel near Mars' equator shaped by catastrophic ancient floods.
ESA said the High Resolution Stereo Camera captured chaotic terrain—fractured rock left after underground ice melted and the surface collapsed—beside valleys cut by surging groundwater.
The main channel is about 6 miles wide and 1,640 feet deep, while layered sediments, volcanic ash, craters and wrinkle ridges record repeated flooding, lava flows and erosion.
Shalbatana Vallis drains toward Chryse Planitia, a lowland some researchers link to a possible ancient ocean, adding to evidence that Mars was once warmer and wetter.
Mars Express, launched in 2003, has mapped the planet in color and 3D for more than two decades and remains central to studies of Mars' watery past.

What final clue proves a vast ancient ocean received these Martian mega-floods?

Did Martian life begin in cataclysmic floods or in quiet underground springs?

With the sample return mission stalled, will drones now lead the search for Martian life?