Claritas Fossae

Today's VIS image shows part of Claritas Fossae. The linear features (fossae) are graben, a tectonic feature created when blocks of material subside between paired faults. These graben filled highlands are bounded by Solis Planum to the northeast and Icaria Planum to the southwest. Extensional tectonic forces are responsible for graben formation. While close to the Tharsis region, it is thought that Claritas Fossae formed prior to the large lava flows located north of this image. The large, deepest depression is younger than the other graben of Claritas Fossae. It is not known if it formed just after the other graben, or at a much later time.