The HiRISE camera aboard Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter spacecraft depicts Uzboi Vallis, a valley on the red planet. Specifically, layered deposits appear here, having been created by running water.

Water used to flow in the valley. However, the creation of Holden crater (to the north), blocked the free passage of water with the crater's rim. The water held back on the floor of the valley rose and formed a short-lived lake that eventually overtopped the rim of Holden crater. After the lake drained into the crater, water that flowed along the valley floor caused erosion and exposed the layers visible here.

One can trace the layers for considerable distances, but either they erode into coarse sediments or consist of the same, or perhaps both. Therefore, their formation may have been relatively rapid as compared to deposition in lakes of longer duration elsewhere on Mars (Holden Crater being one example).

Uzboi Vallis was named after a dry riverbed in Russia.

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— NASA/JPL/University of Arizona and SPACE.com Staff

Credit: NASA/JPL/University of Arizona