Martian chaos terrain

Chaos terrain on Mars is distinctive; nothing on Earth compares to it. Chaos terrain generally consists of irregular groups of large blocks, some tens of kilometers across and a hundred or more meters high. The tilted and flat topped blocks form depressions hundreds of metres deep.[1] A chaotic region can be recognized by a rat's nest of mesas, buttes, and hills, chopped through with valleys which in places look almost patterned.[2][3][4] Some parts of this chaotic area have not collapsed completely—they are still formed into large mesas, so they may still contain water ice.[5] Chaos regions formed long ago. By counting craters (more craters in any given area means an older surface) and by studying the valleys' relations with other geological features, scientists have concluded the channels formed 2.0 to 3.8 billion years ago.[6]

  1. ^ Meresse, S.; et al. (2008). "Formation and evolution of the chaotic terrains by subsidence and magmatism: Hydraotes Chaos, Mars". Icarus. 194 (2): 487–500. Bibcode:2008Icar..194..487M. doi:10.1016/j.icarus.2007.10.023.
  2. ^ Sharp, R. (1973). "Mars: Fretted and chaotic terrains" (PDF). J. Geophys. Res. 78 (20): 4073–4083. Bibcode:1973JGR....78.4073S. doi:10.1029/JB078i020p04073.
  3. ^ Carr, M. 2006. The Surface of Mars. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-87201-0
  4. ^ Forget, F., et al. 2006. Planet Mars Story of Another World. Praxis Publishing, Chichester, UK. ISBN 978-0-387-48925-4
  5. ^ "Unraveling the Chaos of Aram | Mars Odyssey Mission THEMIS".
  6. ^ "When Chaos Erupted in Hydraotes | Mars Odyssey Mission THEMIS".