The Plains of Mars

Abstract

The large shield volcanoes and canyon systems of Mars are amongst the more spectacular landscape features in the solar system. The widespread plains are not. However, vital clues to the geological history of the planet are locked up in extensive flat-lying deposits. These are the very variable geomorphological features classified as plains. Crater ages suggest that plains span the complete age spectrum (see Table 6.1, page 56), the oldest having developed during the early stage of intense bombardment; the youngest are still forming today. Unfortunately, even after over a decade of study of Viking imagery, geologists are little wiser about the origin of some Martian plains than they were before spacecraft reached the planet.