Pit Crater Chain South of Arsia Mons
NASA/JPL-Caltech/UArizona
Pit Crater Chain South of Arsia Mons
ESP_011677_1655  Science Theme: Volcanic Processes
This contains a series of craters called pit chains; however they are not formed by impact craters.

There are a few potential ways that these are formed. The pit craters are believed to form by the collapse of lava tubes or magma chambers. They could also form when the crust of Mars gets pulled apart by extensional forces from a growing volcano magma chamber. This leaves structurally weak areas that have a greater chance of collapsing when the area (lava tubes or magma chamber) no longer contains molten lava or is drained from the chamber.

There is evidence that Mars is not the only planet that has features like these. Earth also has similar pit chains that have formed in Iceland. This chain was formed on a known fault line and the pits formed when the region experienced an earthquake.

This process may be similar to the way the Martian pit chains were formed. If “Marsquakes” are the cause of the formation of pit chains, this will support the idea that there is still geologic (tectonic) activity occurring on Mars. The pit chains that have been found on Earth are considerably smaller than similar features that are found on Mars. Earth's are smaller due to higher gravity and weathering makes them smaller and at some point completely erasing them from sight. But Mars has no system to create erosion; therefore the chains on Mars are better preserved.

Related links
Seismic study hints at a rumbling Mars
Pit chain formation on Mars

Written by: Circe Verba  (13 May 2009)

This is a stereo pair with ESP_012600_1655.
 
Acquisition date
22 January 2009

Local Mars time
15:55

Latitude (centered)
-14.286°

Longitude (East)
240.049°

Spacecraft altitude
251.0 km (156.0 miles)

Original image scale range
50.9 cm/pixel (with 2 x 2 binning) so objects ~153 cm across are resolved

Map projected scale
50 cm/pixel and North is up

Map projection
Equirectangular

Emission angle
9.5°

Phase angle
48.8°

Solar incidence angle
58°, with the Sun about 32° above the horizon

Solar longitude
195.9°, Northern Autumn

For non-map projected images
North azimuth:  97°
Sub-solar azimuth:  7.3°
JPEG
Black and white
map projected  non-map

IRB color
map projected  non-map

Merged IRB
map projected

Merged RGB
map projected

RGB color
non-map projected

JP2
Black and white
map-projected   (304MB)

IRB color
map-projected   (144MB)

JP2 EXTRAS
Black and white
map-projected  (150MB)
non-map           (181MB)

IRB color
map projected  (54MB)
non-map           (137MB)

Merged IRB
map projected  (267MB)

Merged RGB
map-projected  (261MB)

RGB color
non map           (139MB)
ANAGLYPHS
Map-projected, reduced-resolution
Full resolution JP2 download
Anaglyph details page

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
B&W label
Color label
Merged IRB label
Merged RGB label
EDR products
HiView

NB
IRB: infrared-red-blue
RGB: red-green-blue
About color products (PDF)

Black & white is 5 km across; enhanced color about 1 km
For scale, use JPEG/JP2 black & white map-projected images

USAGE POLICY
All of the images produced by HiRISE and accessible on this site are within the public domain: there are no restrictions on their usage by anyone in the public, including news or science organizations. We do ask for a credit line where possible:
NASA/JPL-Caltech/UArizona

POSTSCRIPT
NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, Calif., manages the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate, Washington. The HiRISE camera was built by Ball Aerospace and Technology Corporation and is operated by the University of Arizona.