The crater contains
inverted relief, an exhumed
delta formed by the flow of a liquid, most likely water. The series of valleys leading into the delta "
drain" an area of approximately 4000 km2. The surface area of the delta is 115 km2, measuring 13 km by 11 km. The delta was discovered from images acquired by the
Mars Global Surveyor in 2003, operated
Malin Space Science Systems. Eberswalde delta has six lobes and is about 100 meters thick. The delta also provides unambiguous evidence that some Martian sedimentary rocks have been deposited in a liquid. The meandering of the channels provides evidence to support this. Additional sediments were deposited on top of the delta, burying it. The deposits in the channels formed sedimentary rock. As the surrounding softer sediments were eroded away, the delta was exhumed, but inverted. Some layers of the delta contain clay. Finding clay is significant because it forms in water with a pH close to neutral. This type of environment would support life, and clay can form well-preserved fossils. Many craters once contained lakes. The delta in Eberswalde Crater is strong evidence that a lake once existed here. . Based on an estimate by Moore et al. in 2003 of flow volume to the crater at 700
m3/s, it is estimated that it would take twenty years to completely fill the crater, ignoring
evaporation and
infiltration. However, this is unlikely because it is hypothesized that the delta was not formed in a permanent lake but rather a series of short
lacustrine episodes on the order of years. This suggests that the Martian climate at the
Noachian epoch time of formation was characterized by a series of short, wet spells rather than a sustained wet climate. ==See also==