Ganges Mensa

Ganges Mensa
A THEMIS infrared image of Ganges Chasma. North is up. Ganges Mensa is the prominent mountain-like feature near the center of the image.
LocationGanges Chasma (Valles Marineris)
Coprates quadrangle
Coordinates7°12′S 48°48′W / 7.2°S 48.8°W / -7.2; -48.8
NamingClassical albedo feature[1]

Ganges Mensa (also occasionally termed Gangis Mensa in literature[2][3]) is a mesa and an interior layered deposit in Ganges Chasma, one of the peripheral valleys of Valles Marineris on Mars. The mesa rises up to 4 kilometres (13,000 ft) from the floor of Ganges Chasma, nearly to the same elevation as the surrounding plateaux of Lunae Planum. Like Hebes Mensa, the mesa is completely separated from the surrounding canyon walls and has sustained significant erosion that has caused it to retreat in areal extent.

The mesa is composed of friable, thinly-layered units which decompose into fluted patternations, interpreted by most researchers as erosional aeolian features known as yardangs. It is capped by a more resistant layer that is interpreted by many researchers to be volcanic in origin. Although the mesa is understood to have formed through some combination of volcanism and sedimentary deposition, there is ongoing contention over whether the volcanism associated with the mesa occurred subglacially (into an ice megalaccolith) or subaqueously (into a paleolake). Those who favor the subglacial hypothesis believe that Ganges Mensa is a tuya that is extremely similar to analogues observed in the Azas Plateau of Tuva, Russia.

  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference name was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference lucchitta1994 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ Cite error: The named reference komatsu2004 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).