This HiRISE image shows light-toned layered deposits within Iani Chaos. Many of the same deposits occur within the depressions of Iani Chaos, as well as several nearby similar regions like Aram and Aureum Chaos.

The chaos regions are thought to have formed when large volumes of water at the surface and within the subsurface were catastrophically released from confined regions, causing collapse of the terrain to form broken blocks and fractured mounds and mesas. The light-toned deposits later filled in larger gaps between the chaos blocks, including the deposit in this HiRISE image. Many of these light-toned layered deposits in the chaos regions have sulfate signatures as detected in CRISM data, indicating they formed by water activity.

ID: ESP_092877_1780
date: 20 May 2026
altitude: 271 km

https://uahirise.org/hipod/ESP_092877_1780
NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona
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