NASA Mars Odysey THEMIS Image: Relative Dating Via Fractures

Image Context:


Context image credit: NASA/Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter (MOLA) Team
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This VIS image of the eastern part of the Tharsis region

illustrates how fractures can be used in relative dating

of a surface. The fractured materials on the right side

of the image are embayed by younger volcanic flows originating

to the west of the image. Note how the younger flows

cover the ends of the fractures, and are not at all fractured

themselves.

[Source: ASU THEMIS Science Team]

NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory manages the 2001 Mars Odyssey mission for NASA’s Office of Space Science, Washington, D.C. The Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS) was developed by Arizona State University, Tempe, in collaboration with Raytheon Santa Barbara Remote Sensing. The THEMIS investigation is led by Dr. Philip Christensen at Arizona State University. Lockheed Martin Astronautics, Denver, is the prime contractor for the Odyssey project, and developed and built the orbiter. Mission operations are conducted jointly from Lockheed Martin and from JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena.

Image Credit: NASA/JPL/Arizona State University