Juventae Chasma

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Box canyon on Mars

title: "Juventae Chasma" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["valleys-and-canyons-on-mars", "coprates-quadrangle"] description: "Box canyon on Mars" topic_path: "general/valleys-and-canyons-on-mars" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juventae_Chasma" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Box canyon on Mars ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox feature on celestial object"]

FieldValue
nameJuventae Chasma
image[[Image:Juventae Chasma THEMIS mosaic.jpg
captionJuventae Chasma in mosaic of THEMIS infrared images. Maja Valles extends north from the top of the image. Part of Baetis Chaos is visible at the top, with a smaller chaos region to its right.
coordinates
length320.0
::

|name = Juventae Chasma |image = [[Image:Juventae Chasma THEMIS mosaic.jpg|280px]] |caption = Juventae Chasma in mosaic of THEMIS infrared images. Maja Valles extends north from the top of the image. Part of Baetis Chaos is visible at the top, with a smaller chaos region to its right. |coordinates = |length = 320.0 Juventae Chasma is an enormous box canyon (250 km × 100 km) on Mars which opens to the north and forms the outflow channel Maja Valles. Juventae Chasma is located north of Valles Marineris in the Coprates quadrangle and cuts more than 5 km into the plains of Lunae Planum.

Name

Juventae was named by Giovanni Schiaparelli after the mythical Juventae Fons, the fountain of youth.

Observations

The floor of Juventae Chasma is partly covered by sand dunes. There is also a 2.5 km high mountain inside Juventae, 59 km long and 23 km wide, that was confirmed by Mars Express to be composed of sulfate deposits. MRO discovered sulfates, hydrated sulfates, and iron oxides in Juventae Chasma. Juventae Chasma has four bright mounds or light-toned interior layered deposits (IlD's), as they are often called. Researchers have found that monohydrated sulfates were first deposited on the floor. And then polyhydrated sulfates were laid down. Kieserite, a magnesium sulfate, was also found in Juventae Chasma. Studies from satellites orbiting Mars have found channels on the eastern, western, and southern walls of Juventae Chasma. They seem to have different origins. Some may have started from melting snow, others from groundwater sapping, and still others from precipitation. Inverted channels are also present.

Inverted relief that are visible in Juventae Chasma are also visible in other parts of Mars. This occurs when sediments are deposited on the floor of a stream and then become resistant to erosion, perhaps by cementation. Later the area may be buried. Eventually, erosion removes the covering layer and the former streams become visible since they are resistant to erosion. Mars Global Surveyor found several examples of this process.

Ferric hydroxysulfate (Fe3+SO4OH) has been found in the plateau near Juventae Chasma. It was probably formed from the heating and oxidation of hydrated ferrous sulfates. The heat may have come from the deposition of lava or ash. Another possibility is that heat came from the ground by way of hydrothermal processes. This iron and sulfur compound was discovered with the Compact Reconnaissance Imaging Spectrometer for Mars (CRISM) instrument. Other spectra bands showed the presence of polyhydrated sulfates including rozenite (FeSO4•4H2O) and epsomite (MgSO4•7H2O).

Image:Juventae Chasma.jpg|Light toned sedimentary outcrops on the floor of Juventae Chasma. Image:Inverted Streams in Juventae Chasma.jpg|Inverted Streams near Juventae Chasma, as seen by Mars Global Surveyor. These streams begin at the top of a ridge then run together. Image:Juventae Chasma Inverted Channels.JPG|Inverted Channels near Juventae Chasma, as seen by HiRISE. Channels were once regular stream channels. Scale bar is 500 meters long.

Image:Juventae Chasma Layers.JPG|Layers west of Juventae Chasma, as seen by HiRISE. Scale bar is 500 meters long. Image:Plateau near Juventae Chasma.jpg|Plateau near Juventae Chasma. Ferric hydroxysulfate (Fe3+SO4OH) has been found here.

References

References

  1. (June 17, 2002). "Floor of Juventae Chasma - NASA Science".
  2. Blunck, J. 1982. Mars and its Satellites. Exposition Press. Smithtown, N.Y.
  3. [http://www.esa.int/SPECIALS/Mars_Express/SEMMLKMZCIE_0.html Sulphate deposits in Juventae Chasma] on Esa.int
  4. Murchie, S. et al. 2009. A synthesis of Martian aqueous mineralogy after 1 Mars year of observations from the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. Journal of Geophysical Research: 114.
  5. Noel, A., J. Bishop, M. Al-Samir, C. Gross, J. Flahaut, P. McGuire, C. Weitz, F. Seelos, S. Murchie. 2015. Mineralogy, morphology and stratigraphy of the light-toned interior layered deposits at Juventae Chasma. Icarus: 251, 315–331
  6. Singh et al. (2016) Lunar Planet. Sci. XLIV Abstract#1766.
  7. Singh, P., et al. 2017. The Diverse Channel Networks of Juventae Chasma, Mars. Lunar and Planetary Science XLVIII (2017). 2603.pdf.
  8. Malin, Michael C.. (2010). "An overview of the 1985–2006 Mars Orbiter Camera science investigation". The Mars Journal.
  9. (January 31, 2007). "Sinuous Ridges Near Aeolis Mensae". Hiroc.lpl.arizona.edu.
  10. (January 2026)
  11. Bishop, J. et al. 2025. Characterization of ferric hydroxysulfate on Mars and implications of the geochemical environment supporting its formation. nature communications. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-61801-2
  12. Bishop, J. et al. 2025. Characterization of ferric hydroxysulfate on Mars and implications of the geochemical environment supporting its formation. nature communications. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-61801-2

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