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Melas Chasma - Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter
The floor of Melas Chasma. This canyon, a side canyon in the Valles Marineris system, formed though the tearing of Mars' crust under the weight of the Tharsis Montes volcanoes to the west. This tearing formed faults, along which the canyon walls formed.
As these large canyons opened, they partially filled with sediments. Modern erosion of these sediments has revealed layers on the canyon floor, near the bottom of the image. Closer to the faulted region, downward slumping of the valley floor has twisted and folded this layering, forming the distorted bands along the canyon wall.
This image was created using the CRISM imaging spectrometer. Each pixel of a CRISM image contains a 500 point spectrum, from which a color can be reconstructed. This reconstructed color was overlaid on a higher-resolution image taken with the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Context Camera (CTX), which simultaneously took a photo while CRISM was collecting data.
This image was taken on February 11, 2007. It uses CRISM observation HRL000043C6 and CTX observation P04_002551_1712_XI_08S076W.
Image Credit: NASA / JPL / JHUAPL / MSSS / Aster Cowart
Melas Chasma - Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter
The floor of Melas Chasma. This canyon, a side canyon in the Valles Marineris system, formed though the tearing of Mars' crust under the weight of the Tharsis Montes volcanoes to the west. This tearing formed faults, along which the canyon walls formed.
As these large canyons opened, they partially filled with sediments. Modern erosion of these sediments has revealed layers on the canyon floor, near the bottom of the image. Closer to the faulted region, downward slumping of the valley floor has twisted and folded this layering, forming the distorted bands along the canyon wall.
This image was created using the CRISM imaging spectrometer. Each pixel of a CRISM image contains a 500 point spectrum, from which a color can be reconstructed. This reconstructed color was overlaid on a higher-resolution image taken with the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Context Camera (CTX), which simultaneously took a photo while CRISM was collecting data.
This image was taken on February 11, 2007. It uses CRISM observation HRL000043C6 and CTX observation P04_002551_1712_XI_08S076W.
Image Credit: NASA / JPL / JHUAPL / MSSS / Aster Cowart