Several features found in this quadrangle are interesting, especially gullies which are believed to be caused by relatively recent flows of liquid water.

Arcadia is the name of a telescopic albedo feature located at 45° north latitude (N) and 260° east longitude (E) on Mars.

Large troughs (long narrow depressions) are called fossae in the geographical language used for Mars.

Sinkholes, where the ground falls into a hole (sometimes in the middle of a town) resemble pit craters on Mars.

[10][11][12] Knowledge of the locations and formation mechanisms of pit craters and fossae is important for the future colonization of Mars because they may be reservoirs of water.

Many areas on Mars, including the Arcadia quadrangle, experience the passage of giant dust devils.

When a dust devil passes it blows away the coating and exposes the underlying dark surface.

They have blown dust from the solar panels of the two Rovers on Mars, thereby greatly extending their lives.

[15] Many places on Mars show dark streaks on steep slopes like crater walls.

Research, published in January 2012 in Icarus, found that dark streaks were initiated by airblasts from meteorites traveling at supersonic speeds.

After counting some 65,000 dark streaks around the impact site of a group of 5 new craters, patterns emerged.

[29][30] Because liquid water mayu have been involved in their formation, and that they could be very young, some scientists look to the gullies to search for signs of past life.

Various measurements and calculations show that liquid water could exist in aquifers at the usual depths where gullies begin.

[29] One variation of this model is that rising hot magma could have melted ice in the ground and caused water to flow in aquifers.

[32] As for the next theory, much of the surface of Mars is covered by a thick smooth mantle that is thought to be a mixture of ice and dust.

[33][34][35] This ice-rich mantle, a few yards thick, smooths the land, but in places it has a bumpy texture, resembling the surface of a basketball.

An excellent view of this mantle is shown below in the picture of the Ptolemaeus Crater Rim, as seen by HiRISE.

The water comes back to ground at lower latitudes as deposits of frost or snow mixed generously with dust.

This movement of water could last for several thousand years and create a snow layer of up to around 10 meters thick.

During a warmer climate, the first few meters of ground could thaw and produce a "debris flow" similar to those on Greenland's east coast.

[44] Since the gullies occur on steep slopes only a small decrease of the shear strength of the soil particles is needed to begin the flow.

[47] Much of the surface of Mars is covered by a thick smooth mantle that is thought to be a mixture of ice and dust.

The water returns to the ground at lower latitudes as deposits of frost or snow mixed generously with dust.

[48] Glaciers, loosely defined as patches of currently or recently flowing ice, are thought to be present across large but restricted areas of the modern Martian surface, and are inferred to have been more widely distributed at times in the past.

On the Earth, many sedmentary rocks are formed when sediments like clay settle to the bottom of a lake and then become compacted and cemented.

[64] [65] A detailed discussion of layering with many Martian examples can be found in Sedimentary Geology of Mars.

[66] Impact craters develop when a fast-moving object collides with the surface of a planet, moon, or asteroid.

Some of the material comes from deep underground; therefore, samples gathered from that place can tell us about minerals under the surface.

[68][69][70] Primitive organisms may have developed in some lakes; hence, some craters may be prime targets for the search for evidence of life on the Red Planet.

After a number of years a modification of the formation of ring mold craters being formed by impact into an ice layer was presented at a Planetary Science conference in Texas in 2018.