Image Credit: NASA/JPL/ASU

Context image credit: NASA/JPL/MOLA
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Except for the loss of its ring of ejecta, the crater at the leading edge of a streamlined island in Kasei Vallis shows no hint of the catastrophic floods that passed by it. Kasei Vallis is one of several major outflow channel systems that were active over 3 billion years ago. The intense floods scoured the landscape, eroding craters and producing stream- lined islands. But in a close-up view, the evidence for these floods is not apparent. This is true of the most similar ter- restrial example, the channeled scablands of eastern Washington which also were formed by a catastrophic flood.