The Role of Water on the Evolution of the Nepenthes Mensae Region of Mars

Introduction: The recent observations about different waterand ice-related features on Nepenthes region of Mars [1] [2] [3], and the evidence of changes on the Oceanus Borealis’ water level on this region [4] [5] inspired the work here presented. What are exactly the water-related landforms (glacial, periglacial, fluvial, etc) existing in this region of Mars? How are they spatially distributed? What was the role of water (liquid or frozen) on the evolution of this region? Try to reply to all these questions were the objective of a pre-graduate research whose first preliminary results we present here. Data and Methods: In order to search and to locate possible landforms related to water (liquid or frozen) in Nepenthes Mensae we analyzed more than 500 THEMIS-Visible images (about 18 meters per pixel in resolution) from October 2002 to October 2008 releases. We selected all those images because their spatial coverage/spatial resolution ratio appears optimal for our investigation. We analyzed each THEMIS-Vis image and classified each observed landform in a extense table what include aeolian, tectonic, glacial, periglacial, fluvial, volcanic, slopes-related landforms among others. We paid a special attention to the water-related landforms. In table 1 we show the most commond landforms that we recognized on the images. Fluvial: Channels,Terrace, Dendritical fluvial net, Inundation plains, Alluvial fan, Delta, Meanders