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In planetary nomenclature, the descriptor term chaos means "distinctive area of broken terrain." The general morphology of chaos is steep-sided mesas in close proximity. This VIS image shows a region of Chryse Chaos where the isolated mesas are beginning to be formed. The interconnected channel forms erode, and mesas are created by erosion of the bounding channels. The bottom of the image shows some of the resultant mesas.

Orbit Number: 71455 Latitude: 13.1491 Longitude: 318.592 Instrument: VIS Captured: 2018-01-22 18:16

Please see the THEMIS Data Citation Note for details on crediting THEMIS images.

NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory manages the 2001 Mars Odyssey mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS) was developed by Arizona State University, Tempe, in collaboration with Raytheon Santa Barbara Remote Sensing. The THEMIS investigation is led by Dr. Philip Christensen at Arizona State University. Lockheed Martin Astronautics, Denver, is the prime contractor for the Odyssey project, and developed and built the orbiter. Mission operations are conducted jointly from Lockheed Martin and from JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena.