Auqakuh Vallis is an ancient river valley in the

Syrtis Major quadrangle The Syrtis Major quadrangle is one of a series of 30 quadrangle maps of Mars used by the United States Geological Survey (USGS) Astrogeology Research Program. The Syrtis Major quadrangle is also referred to as MC-13 (Mars Chart-13). The quadr ...

Mars Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun and the second-smallest planet in the Solar System, only being larger than Mercury (planet), Mercury. In the English language, Mars is named for the Mars (mythology), Roman god of war. Mars is a terr ...

, located at 30.4° north latitude and 299.9° west longitude. It is 312 km long, and is named for the word for 'Mars' in

Quechua Quechua may refer to: *Quechua people, several indigenous ethnic groups in South America, especially in Peru *Quechuan languages, a Native South American language family spoken primarily in the Andes, derived from a common ancestral language **So ...

(Inca).

Buttes

Many places on Mars have buttes that are similar to buttes on

Earth Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the only astronomical object known to harbor life. While large volumes of water can be found throughout the Solar System, only Earth sustains liquid surface water. About 71% of Earth's surfa ...

, such as the famous ones in

Monument Valley Monument Valley ( nv, Tsé Biiʼ Ndzisgaii, , meaning ''valley of the rocks'') is a region of the Colorado Plateau characterized by a cluster of sandstone buttes, the largest reaching above the valley floor. It is located on the Utah-Arizona s ...

Utah Utah ( , ) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. Utah is a landlocked U.S. state bordered to its east by Colorado, to its northeast by Wyoming, to its north by Idaho, to its south by Arizona, and to it ...

. Buttes are formed when most of a layer(s) of rocks are removed from an area. Buttes usually have a hard, erosion-resistant cap rock on the top. The cap rock causes the top of a butte to be flat. An example of a butte in the

is shown in a picture on this page.

References

Valleys and canyons on Mars Syrtis Major quadrangle {{Mars-stub