Context image

The complex channel at the top of the image is part of Mangala Fossae. At the top of this image the main graben is interacting with a preexisting impact creater. Other depression towards the bottom of the image are simple linear features. Mangala Fossae are long linear depressions called a graben and were 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. Mangala Fossae is 828 km long (514 miles).

Orbit Number: 91348 Latitude: -20.1261 Longitude: 207.108 Instrument: VIS Captured: 2022-07-18 21:30

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.