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Pictures of Faults on Mars
European Space Agency ^ | 12-Feb-2006

Posted on 02/12/2006 3:35:07 AM PST by ckilmer

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Pits and tectonic grabens in Phlegethon Catena
Perspective view of Phlegethon Catena

9 February 2006
These images, taken by the High Resolution Stereo Camera (HRSC) on board ESA’s Mars Express spacecraft, show pits and tectonic ‘grabens’ in the Phlegethon Catena region of Mars.


Map showing Phlegethon Catena in context
The HRSC obtained these images during orbit 1217 with a ground resolution of approximately 11.9 metres per pixel. The scenes show the region of Phlegethon Catena, centred at approximately 33.9° South and 253.1° East.

Located south-east of the Alba Patera volcano, Phlegethon Catena is a region exhibiting a high density of tectonic grabens, which are blocks of terrain that have dropped relative to their surroundings as a result of a geological extension of the crust.


Colour view of Phlegethon Catena
In the colour image (left), this swarm of grabens trends roughly north-east to south-west, with individual widths ranging from approximately one half to ten kilometres.

The series of closely spaced depressions that exhibit a similar orientation to the grabens is described by the term ‘catena’.


Black and white nadir view of Phlegethon Catena
These depressions are rimless, circular to elliptical and range from roughly 0.3 to 2.3 kilometres across.

The grabens may have formed as the result of stresses associated with the formation of Alba Patera, which rises three to four kilometres above the surrounding plains, or the Tharsis rise to the south, which reaches up to ten kilometres high.


Perspective view of Phlegethon Catena - looking north
It is unclear what process is responsible for the chain of depressions.

One possibility is the collapse of the surface due to the removal of subsurface materials, while other suggestions include that tension cracks may have formed in the subsurface and caused subsequent collapse.


The colour scenes have been derived from the three HRSC-colour channels and the nadir channel. The perspective views have been calculated from the digital terrain model derived from the stereo channels.

The 3D anaglyph image was calculated from the nadir and one stereo channel. Image resolution has been decreased for use on the internet.

For more information on Mars Express HRSC images, you might like to read our updated 'Frequently Asked Questions'.


Perspective view of Phlegethon Catena - looking south


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Foreign Affairs
KEYWORDS: faults; mars; tectonicplates
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To: ckilmer

At least one should be named "Bush's Fault".


21 posted on 02/12/2006 4:21:17 AM PST by Semper Paratus

To: ovrtaxt

AH! The PC name!


22 posted on 02/12/2006 4:32:52 AM PST by R. Scott (Humanity i love you because when you're hard up you pawn your Intelligence to buy a drink.)

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23 posted on 02/12/2006 4:38:47 AM PST by meanie monster (http://guptonator.myvideochat.net)

To: Smokin' Joe
It is unclear what process is responsible for the chain of depressions.

Maybe Mars had a Democrat campaign agenda?

24 posted on 02/12/2006 4:50:38 AM PST by ovrtaxt (Muslims are the only people who make feminists seem laid-back. -Coulter)

To: SkyPilot

LOL!! The original pic was disgusting enough...


25 posted on 02/12/2006 4:51:13 AM PST by ovrtaxt (Muslims are the only people who make feminists seem laid-back. -Coulter)

To: UCANSEE2
So, you're saying their from GREEN CHEESE FARTS. ???

Oh, no. Absolutely not. Everyone knows green cheese farts are strictly lunar.

26 posted on 02/12/2006 4:52:11 AM PST by Smokin' Joe (How often God must weep at humans' folly.)

To: ckilmer
...and tectonic ‘grabens’ in the Phlegethon Catena region of Mars.

Aren't those caused by graboids?

Gee, maybe there really is life on Mars!

27 posted on 02/12/2006 4:54:57 AM PST by mewzilla (Property must be secured or liberty cannot exist. John Adams)

To: mewzilla

Is that a Jawa flipping us off??

NUKE MARS!!


28 posted on 02/12/2006 4:56:02 AM PST by ovrtaxt (Muslims are the only people who make feminists seem laid-back. -Coulter)

To: ovrtaxt
Maybe Mars had a Democrat campaign agenda?

Hmmm. That might explain the rifting under tension as well as the de-gassing...

I can see the 'B' movie now. "Subsurface Bloviators of Mars"

Might even cause the drive-ins to make a comeback...

29 posted on 02/12/2006 4:56:15 AM PST by Smokin' Joe (How often God must weep at humans' folly.)

To: Smokin' Joe
"Subsurface Bloviators of Mars"

T Kennedy could star. He's already the subsurface bloviator of Mass...

30 posted on 02/12/2006 4:58:06 AM PST by ovrtaxt (Muslims are the only people who make feminists seem laid-back. -Coulter)

To: cjshapi

I guess with all those faults, Mars must definitely be male...


31 posted on 02/12/2006 4:58:39 AM PST by Junior (Identical fecal matter, alternate diurnal period)

To: ovrtaxt
LOL!!! That does look like a Jawa flipping us off now that you mention it! ROTF!
32 posted on 02/12/2006 5:04:58 AM PST by mewzilla (Property must be secured or liberty cannot exist. John Adams)

To: Junior
I guess with all those faults, Mars must definitely be male...

Which is why men are from Mars....

:)

33 posted on 02/12/2006 5:06:01 AM PST by mewzilla (Property must be secured or liberty cannot exist. John Adams)

To: ckilmer

If you look closely you can see evidence of post remodial tectonic cleviance. The irregular size of the grabens linear streaming is the tip off.


34 posted on 02/12/2006 5:15:18 AM PST by bert (K.E. N.P. Slay Pinch)

To: ovrtaxt
T Kennedy could star. He's already the subsurface bloviator of Mass...

From the pictures I have seen he is a bloviator of signigficant mass...I wonder how much of his influence is gravitational...

35 posted on 02/12/2006 5:26:11 AM PST by Smokin' Joe (How often God must weep at humans' folly.)

To: Smokin' Joe

Not enough to suck Mary Jo Kopeckne from that ditch...


36 posted on 02/12/2006 5:27:32 AM PST by ovrtaxt (Muslims are the only people who make feminists seem laid-back. -Coulter)

To: ckilmer

Those depressions -- possibly pingos? This presupposes ice and melting ice -- mmaybe not a possibility. But that's what they look like to me.


37 posted on 02/12/2006 5:33:27 AM PST by weaver

To: ckilmer
" One possibility is the collapse of the surface due to the removal of subsurface materials, while other suggestions include that tension cracks may have formed in the subsurface and caused subsequent collapse."

Come on. With all the water running around, they're just sinkholes, don't you know!

38 posted on 02/12/2006 5:36:43 AM PST by brityank (The more I learn about the Constitution, the more I realise this Government is UNconstitutional.)

To: Smokin' Joe
De-gassing along the fault would be my bet...subsurface, wind buried, CO2 ice heated by subsurface friction along the fault or escaping volcanic fluids, causing the escaping gas to blow away the sediment from above the vents along the fault.

What he said.

39 posted on 02/12/2006 6:10:06 AM PST by bkepley

To: ckilmer

Bush did it!


40 posted on 02/12/2006 6:22:54 AM PST by Pit1


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