Mars: dunes and ice in Chasma Boreale - Mars: dunes and ice in Chasma Boreale...

Mars: dunes and ice in Chasma Boreale - Mars: dunes and ice in Chasma Boreale - Chasma Boreale is a huge canyon located in the northern polar cap of Mars. This image, obtained in light visible by the probe 2001 Mars Odyssey, shows Tenuis Cavus, the end of this valley or the canyon is only 35 km wide. The cliffs to the north (top) and to the east (right) s'elevent 1400 meters above ground. The walls are covered with ice, while at the bottom of the bowl many sand dunes are present. Chasma Boreale is a huge canyon in the northern polar cap. It runs into the ice cap for 570 kilometers (350 miles), making a broad valley that ends at a point called Tenuis Cavus, shown in this THEMIS image taken at visible wavelengths.tapering from a width of 120 km (75 miles) at its mouth, Chasma Boreale is only about 35 km (22 miles) wide here. The cliffs on the northern (top) and eastern (right) sides of the image rise about 1,400 meters (4,600 feet) above the base. On the inside walls of this gigantic amphitheater are stacked layers of ice, while on its floor lie a dark sheet of what is likely frozen sand and a horde of sand dunes marching down - canyon under the winds' direction