I’ve been enjoying using NASA’s WorldWind software to help my 7th/8th grade Physical Science students understand the solar system a little better. Mars especially has an amazing variety of features and landforms formed by tectonic events, meteorites, running water, groundwater, ice, and wind. (I’ve written about Mars WorldWind before, but I’m having so much fun with it…)

Computer-generated relief map of Mars using WorldWind. The white areas are the highest elevation, and are enormous volcanoes. The blue areas represent the lowest elevations.

Faulted areas (“grabens”) at the western end of Valles Marineris, a large fault-formed canyon that is ten times the length and width of Earth’s grand canyon.

Channels formed by running water at some time in Mars’s past.

Tectonic features, volcanoes, and craters.

Grace and Peace