Image Credit: NASA/JPL/ASU

Context image credit: NASA/JPL/MOLA
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Detailed information on this image is available at the THEMIS Data Releases website.

 

Please see the THEMIS Data Citation Note for details on crediting THEMIS images.

 

This Themis image occurs south of Alba Patera, a volcano located within the Tharsis volcanic complex. The image contains many beautiful geologic features and / or structures which occur prolifically on Mars, specifically craters, pit chains (top of image trending left to right), graben (trending top to bottom), and lava flows. The geologic concept of cross-cutting relationships for relative dating of geologic features can be used in this image. One can relatively date the top portion of this image quite easily using cross-cutting relationships. From oldest to youngest the features are as follows: a large impact crater smashes into Mars subsequently generating an ejecta blanket, a top to bottom trending graben forms cutting the ejecta blanket, a pit chain trending left to right forms cutting across both the ejecta blanket and the top to bottom trending graben.