Located just northeast of the colossal Tharsis volcanic-tectonic province on Mars, the landscape shown in this image from ESA’s Mars Express is a mix of faults, elevated ground, deep valleys, and largely parallel ridges, extending both down into the surface and up above the martian crust. This is a portion of Tempe Fossae – a series of tectonic faults that cuts across Tempe Terra in Mars’ northern highlands.

This region is a great example of terrain featuring two key martian features: grabens and horsts. In a way, these are opposites of one another – grabens are slices of ground that have dropped down between two roughly parallel faults, while horsts are ground that has been uplifted between faults. Both were created by tremendous volcanic and tectonic forces acting across the surface of Mars, which fractured the ground and manipulated it into new configurations.

The surface to the right of the frame is smoother, created as lava flooded the region before cooling and solidifying, and some perpendicular slices across the predominantly parallel ridges can be seen to the left of the frame. As the nearby Tharsis province grew larger, it stretched and stressed the surrounding crust – and these features are evidence of a change in the direction of stress.

This image comprises data gathered on 30 September 2019 during orbit 19913. The ground resolution is approximately 15 m/pixel and the images are centred at about 279°E/36°N. This image was created using data from the nadir and colour channels of the High Resolution Stereo Camera (HRSC). The nadir channel is aligned perpendicular to the surface of Mars, as if looking straight down at the surface. North is to the right.

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