Mars Photo of the Day - Mar 17 2012

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Today's Image of Mars was taken by Mars Odyssey Orbiter's THEMIS and shows Galaxias Fossae, a 400km long fault cutting through Utopia Planitia. It is thought that Galaxias Fossae was created by lava that forced its way into a small vertical crack in the crust and expanded it. 

Galaxias Fossae - Clicking on this image will take you to the high resolution version from THEMIS. [Read their article]

The fault that originated Galaxias Fossae was likely created by the growth of the Elysium Volcanoes. Into that underground fault a small ribbon of molten rock forced it's way through, making the fault wider and bringing hot rock closer to the surface. That hot rock then encountered ground that was saturated with water and ice. The hot rock caused the ice to melt, which made the ground collapse.

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