NASA Mars Odyssey THEMIS Image: Cerberus Fossae Fractures

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Context image credit: NASA/Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter (MOLA) Team
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The fractured surface of the Cerberus region southeast of the Elysium volcanoes provides an impressive example of the powerful tectonic forces that have shaped the region. Both the smooth lava plains and the mountains that poke through the lava are subject to the extensional forces that rip open the landscape. The fractures are radial to the Elysium complex, suggesting a relationship to the volcanic processes that have built it.

[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