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Located between the lava plains of Daedalia Planum and Solis Planum, Claritas Fossae is a graben filled highland. Graben are formed by tectonic activity. In this region of Mars extensive and long lived volcanic and tectonic activity created the largest volcanoes and the longest canyon system on Mars. Volcanic and tectonic forces coexist and tectonic faults are often utilized by subsurface magma to reach the surface. Claritas Fossae was formed prior to the large lava flows of the Tharsis region.

Orbit Number: 74950 Latitude: -17.7366 Longitude: 252.095 Instrument: VIS Captured: 2018-11-06 15:40

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.