Bright Sediments in Ladon Basin

This image shows some bright layered deposits exposed within a linear trough along the floor of the Ladon Basin.

There is a large channel system that flows into the basin, called Ladon Valles, and scientists think that the basin may have once filled with water before another channel to the north formed and drained it. These exposures of light-toned layered sediments provide clues about the environment that existed within Ladon Basin when water may have ponded and deposited these sediments.

This is a stereo pair with ESP_034143_1605.

Photo credit: NASA/JPL/University of Arizona

Note: For more information, see PIA17980: Bright Sediments on the Floor of Ladon Basin.

Layered Deposits in Ladon Basin

This image shows light-toned layered deposits at the contact between the Ladon Valles channel and Ladon Basin.

These deposits could either be fluvial sediments transported along Ladon Valles when water carved out this channel, or they could be sediments deposited in Ladon Basin, perhaps when a lake existed here. Some of these light-toned deposits have mineral signatures consistent with clays, indicating favorable water conditions for life.

This is a stereo pair with ESP_032719_1595.

Photo credit: NASA/JPL/University of Arizona

Ladon Valles

This VIS image shows the complex region where Ladon Valles enters a topographic low in Margaritifer Terra.

Orbit Number: 49561 Latitude: -20.9097 Longitude: 330.385 Instrument: VIS Captured: 2013-02-14 21:19

Photo credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Arizona State University

Ladon Valles

High-Resolution Stereo Camera (HRSC) nadir and colour channel data taken during revolution 10602 on 27 April 2012 by ESA’s Mars Express have been combined to form a natural-color view of the Ladon Valles region. Centered at around 18°S and 329°E, this image has a ground resolution of about 20 m per pixel. The image shows the interconnected craters Sigli and Shambe, believed to have formed when a large meteorite fragmented in to two pieces just before impact. Extensive fracturing can be seen within the craters. Above the craters (west), creek-like flow channels can be seen leading in to the wider impact basin region to the right (north).

Photo credit: ESA/DLR/FU Berlin (G. Neukum)

Near the Mouth of Morava Valles

Morava Valles drained Ladon Basin and discharged towards the large regions of chaotic terrain near the head of Ares Vallis.

Because the valley emerges full bore from Ladon Basin (much like the Niagara River emerges from Lake Erie on the Earth), it has been hypothesized that it was formed when a lake overflowed the basin.

There are numerous valleys, including the large Ladon Valles, that end along the margin of Ladon Basin. Some of the outcrops visible in this image and elsewhere in the basin show evidence of layering due to deposition of sediments.

Comparison of the nature and extent of layers exposed here and elsewhere around Ladon basin should help to constrain their origin, by water flow or other processes.

Photo credit: NASA/JPL/University of Arizona

A Trough within Ladon Basin

This image shows an approximately 2-kilometer wide trough within Ladon Basin. This trough, and others around the perimeter of the basin, were probably produced during the gradual sinking of the materials here.

The basin formed during an epoch in Martian history called the Noachian period, and may have harbored a lake based upon the fluvial valleys that flow into it. If a lake once existed here then the trough is a window that could expose any sediments deposited within the lake, making this an exciting image to explore.

Photo credit: NASA/JPL/University of Arizona

Note: Ladon Basin is not a formally named feature on Mars; however, it is located in southwestern Margaritifer Terra. Ladon Valles (the only Martian feature with the Ladon name) looks to have flowed north into the southern end of the impact basin; however, this trough is far to the northwest of that outflow channel.

Light-Toned Layered Rock Outcrop in Ladon Valles

Ladon Vallis, an approximately 600 kilometer (370 mile) long outflow channel, is part of a larger system that begins in Argyre basin to the south and extends northwards across the Southern Highlands towards the larger Ares Vallis outflow system. This image shows part of Ladon Vallis that is located within Ladon basin.

Here the extensive laterally continuous outcrops of layered light-tone units and deposits contrasts sharply with the darker-toned materials that cover the channel floor. Dark-toned dunes partly infill fractures and impact craters.

These extensive layers may have resulted from ponding of water and sediments that flowed into the basin from Ladon Vallis. Subsequent episodic flood events out of the basin to the north may have eroded and exposed the pre-existing sedimentary layers.

Photo credit: NASA/JPL/University of Arizona