Hebes Mensa
Hebes Mensa is a large mensa that rises from the floor of Hebes Chasma, one of the chasmata of the Valles Marineris network on Mars. Some researchers have identified this mesa to be an interior layered deposit, similar to Ganges Mensa, and are named for alternating light-toned and dark-toned layers forming a stair-stepped stratigraphy. The faces of Hebes Mensa are sometimes fluted.
Although many researchers have proposed a low-energy lacustrine depositional origin tied to continual groundwater feeding interspersed with occasional subaqueous volcanism, others have contested this hypothesis, noting that Hebes Mensa is so tall that it actually stretches above the canyon walls of Hebes Chasma. Such researchers propose that Hebes Mensa is actually a tuya, modeled on ones observed in Russia's Azas Plateau and in northern Iceland, which are volcanic edifices that form due to the effects of subglacial volcanism.
