Masursky Crater

The large, tilted blocks in this THEMIS visible image are chaotic terrain in Masursky Crater. Chaotic terrain is thought to occur when subsurface water is suddenly released to the surface, and the resulting loss of ground support causes the surface material to slump and break into blocks. Most of the chaotic terrain on Mars is seen in the vicinity of the large catastrophic outflow channels. Many of the outflow channels actually have chaotic terrain as their source. This chaotic terrain is the source of a small channel that connects to the much larger Tiu Valles.