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The linear depressions in today's VIS image are part of Nili Fossae. Nili Fossae is a collection of curved faults and down-dropped blocks of crust between the faults called graben. The graben lie northeast of the large volcano Syrtis Major and northwest of the ancient impact basin Isidis Planitia. Graben are formed by extension of the crust and faulting. When large amounts of pressure or tension are applied to rocks on timescales that are fast enough that the rock cannot respond by deforming, the rock breaks along faults. In the case of a graben, two parallel faults are formed by extension of the crust and the rock in between the faults drops downward into the space created by the extension. The crustal deformation in this region was in response to the basin forming event that created Isidis Planitia. The Nili Fossae graben arc around the northwestern edge of the planitia. The graben occur in many different widths.

Orbit Number: 88919 Latitude: 22.3384 Longitude: 77.6092 Instrument: VIS Captured: 2021-12-30 21:37

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.