The discharges are so large compared with rates of freezing that flow could continue even under present climatic conditions. The fate of the water that flowed down the channels is uncertain. It presumably pooled in low-lying areas at the ends of the channels. Most of the large channels around Chryse terminate in the low-lying northern plains, where there are a variety of features suggestive of ice action. Terminal lakes in these areas would have quickly frozen under present climatic conditions, and possibly thick bodies of ice are still present at the site of the former lakes.
Some channels end at low latitudes.
In these cases, after freezing, the water would have slowly sublimed into the atmosphere and precipitated out at the poles. In contrast to outflow channels, they have tributaries and increase in size downstream. They are also much smaller than outflow channels. The general consensus is that they formed as a result of slow erosion by water erosion. Many have characteristics that suggest they formed by seepage of groundwater rather than by precipitation.