Why does this channel branch here? It’s on a steep slope and there’s no obvious reason for it to become a distributary. Could this be ice-related?

ID: ESP_062241_2210
date: 6 November 2019
altitude: 298 km

https://uahirise.org/hipod/ESP_062241_2210
NASA/JPL-Caltech/UArizona
#Mars #science #NASA