The Noctis
Labyrinthus region, the "labyrinth of the night" looms mysteriously on Mars. This
image was taken by the High-Resolution Stereo Camera (HRSC), onboard ESA's Mars
Express spacecraft, on June 25, 2006.
Noctis Labyrinthus
lies on the Martian sphere at approximately 6.5° south and 260° east. Sunlight falls,
in this picture, from the north-west (top right of the image).
The region
is located on the western edge of Valles Marineris, the 'Grand Canyon' of Mars.
These features are more closely spaced and deeply incised, and suggest the
winding corridors of a labyrinth.
Noctis Labyrinthus
forms part of a complex graben-system, which formed due to extensional
tectonics. During the process, intense volcanism in the Tharsis region formed a
bulge, resulting in tectonic stress. This caused the crust to thin out and form
graben structures, elongated, trench-like features bounded by parallel normal
faults.
The scene here
exhibits parts of those graben structures with 5000-meter deep incisions. They
are strongly eroded, as seen from the debris at the bottom of the graben.
Younger rock-formations can be seen on the upper-edge of the graben.
--ESA and SPACE.com Staff
Credit: ESA/ DLR/ FU Berlin (G. Neukum)
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