![](\"http:\/\/www.esa.int\/var\/esa\/storage\/images\/esa_multimedia\/videos\/2016\/12\/fly_over_mawrth_vallis\/16553199-1-eng-GB\/Fly_over_Mawrth_Vallis_small.png\")
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\nThis movie, based on images taken by ESA\u2019s Mars Express, highlights Mawrth Vallis, a 600 km-long, 2 km-deep outflow channel at the boundary of the southern highlands and the northern lowlands of Mars.\n<\/p>\n
\nThe movie begins at the mouth of the channel in Chryse Planitia, and heads towards the apparent source region in the Arabia Terra highlands.\n<\/p>\n
\nThe 4 billion year-old plateau is characterised by many impact craters, indicative of its great age.\n<\/p>\n
\nZooming in, patches of light and dark deposits are revealed. The light-toned layered sediments are among the largest outcrops of clay minerals \u2013 phyllosilicates \u2013 on Mars. Their presence indicates the presence of liquid water in the past.\n<\/p>\n
\nThe variety of water-bearing minerals and the possibility that they might contain a record of an ancient, habitable environment on Mars led scientists to propose Mawrth Vallis as a candidate landing site for the ExoMars 2020 mission<\/a>.\n<\/p>\n \nThe animation is based on a colour mosaic and digital terrain model derived from data collected by the high-resolution stereo camera on Mars Express and released earlier this year<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" \nThis movie, based on images taken by ESA’s Mars Express, highlights Mawrth Vallis, a 600 km-long, 2 km-deep outflow channel at the boundary of the southern highlands and the northern lowlands of Mars.\n<\/p>\n \nThe movie begins at the mouth of the channel in Chryse Planitia, and heads towards the apparent source region in the Arabia Terra highlands.\n<\/p>\n \nThe 4 billion year-old plateau is characterised by many impact craters, indicative of its great age.\n<\/p>\n \nZooming in, patches of light and dark deposits are revealed. The light-toned layered sediments are among the largest outcrops of clay minerals – phyllosilicates – on Mars. Their presence indicates the presence of liquid water in the past.\n<\/p>\n \nThe variety of water-bearing minerals and the possibility that they might contain a record of an ancient, habitable environment on Mars led scientists to propose Mawrth Vallis as a candidate landing site for the ExoMars 2020 mission<\/a>.\n<\/p>\n<\/p>\n