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Mesa in Aureum Chaos

Aug. 2, 2004
NASA's Mars Global Surveyor shows a circular mesa and layered materials that are partially-exposed from beneath a thick, dark mantle in the Aureum Chaos region of Mars.

2 August 2004
This Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) image shows a circular mesa and layered materials that are partially-exposed from beneath a thick, dark mantle in the Aureum Chaos region of Mars. The features are part of a much larger circular form (bigger than the image shown here) that marks the location of a crater that was filled with light-toned sedimentary rock, buried, and then later re-exposed when the upper crust of Mars broke apart in this region to form buttes and mesas of "chaotic terrain." The circular mesa in this image might also be the location of a formerly filled and buried crater. This image is located near 4.0°S, 26.9°W. It covers an area about 3 km (1.9 mi) across; sunlight illuminates the scene from the left/upper left.

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