PIA25635: Fossae
 Target Name:  Mars
 Is a satellite of:  Sol (our sun)
 Mission:  2001 Mars Odyssey
 Spacecraft:  2001 Mars Odyssey
 Instrument:  THEMIS
 Product Size:  595 x 2722 pixels (w x h)
 Produced By:  Arizona State University
 Full-Res TIFF:  PIA25635.tif (750.7 kB)
 Full-Res JPEG:  PIA25635.jpg (83.3 kB)

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Original Caption Released with Image:

Context image for PIA25635
Context image

Today's VIS image shows an unnamed region of fractures and graben. Located south of Solis Planum, between Claitas Fossae and Coracis Fossae, this region of fossae has the same appearance and graben orientation of the bordering named Fossae. Fossae are long linear depressions called graben and 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.

Orbit Number: 91764 Latitude: -36.7342 Longitude: 272.1 Instrument: VIS Captured: 2022-08-22 02:55

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.

Image Credit:
NASA/JPL-Caltech/ASU

Image Addition Date:
2022-12-02