Hydraotes Chaos

Scaled Image

Image Credit: NASA/JPL/ASU

About this image

This VIS image shows part of Hydraotes Chaos. Hydraotes Chaos measures about 300 kilometers (190 miles) wide by roughly 350 km (220 mi) north-south. The chaos lies in a valley leading northeast out of Ganges Chasma at the east end of Valles Marineris. Tiu Valles flows northward from Hydraotes Chaos to empty into Chryse Planitia. In planetary nomenclature, the descriptor term chaos means "distinctive area of broken terrain". The general morphology of chaos is steep-sided mesas in close proximity. With time and erosion the valleys widen and the mesas grow smaller. The initial breakup of the land can be due to tectonic forces, but on Mars it is thought that the release of melted, subsurface ice created the terrain. Large channels, like Tiu Valles, usually originate from regions of chaos.

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

Context

Image ID: 
V95599003 (View data in Mars Image Explorer)
0.646237
326.4
95599
2023-07-03 22:09
Thu, 2024-01-25
VIS
256 pixels (18 km)
3792 pixels (272 km)
0.071869 km/pixel
0.0723521 km/pixel

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