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PIA24863: Intersecting Fractures
This image acquired on June 3, 2021 by NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, shows intersecting troughs, or fractures, cutting across geologically young volcanic terrain in the Tharsis volcanic province.
 Target Name:  Mars
 Is a satellite of:  Sol (our sun)
 Mission:  Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) 
 Spacecraft:  Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO)
 Instrument:  HiRISE 
 Product Size:  2880 x 1800 pixels (w x h) 
 Produced By:  University of Arizona/HiRISE-LPL 
 Other  
Information: 		 Other products from ESP_069621_1975 
 Full-Res TIFF:  PIA24863.tif (4.948 MB)
 Full-Res JPEG:  PIA24863.jpg (901.4 kB)  

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Original Caption Released with Image:

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These intersecting troughs, or fractures, cut across geologically young volcanic terrain in the Tharsis volcanic province. In many locations near where this image was taken, material has erupted from similar features.

However, it does not appear that material erupted from these particular fractures. Instead, they appear to crosscut material that flowed across the surface, indicating that the fractures are younger than the flows. The widths of the troughs at their rims are about 200 to 250 meters across.

This image is an example of how the surface can provide information about the processes happening in Mars' interior.

The map is projected here at a scale of 25 centimeters (9.8 inches) per pixel. (The original image scale is 27.6 centimeters [10.7 inches] per pixel [with 1 x 1 binning]; objects on the order of 83 centimeters [32.7 inches] across are resolved.) North is up.

The University of Arizona, in Tucson, operates HiRISE, which was built by Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp., in Boulder, Colorado. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of Caltech in Pasadena, California, manages the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Project for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington.

Image Credit:
NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona

Image Addition Date:
2021-08-20