Between the giant Martian canyon Valles Marineris and the highest volcanoes in the Solar System (the Tharsis region) is the site of Noctis Labyrinthus. This vast system of deep valleys with steep slopes stretches for a length of about 1,190 kilometers (equivalent to the length of Italy, for example). In this article, you will find a video showing a virtual flyby over the eastern part of Noctis Labyrinthus, which was created thanks to photos from the High Resolution Stereo Camera (HRSC) on the European Mars Express probe. The video clearly shows a fascinating landscape containing places where the terrain has fallen below its original level. Intense volcanic activity in the nearby Tharsis region is responsible for these structures. Volcanism caused large areas of the Martian crust to arch upward, being stretched and tectonically stressed. This led to their weakening, cracking and subsidence.
The highest areas that we can observe in the video represent the original height of the terrain before its fragments fell below. Canyons and valleys are sometimes up to 30 km wide and 6 km deep. In many places, we see the consequences of massive regolith landslides, which cover the slopes and bottoms of canyons. On other slopes, we can observe sand dunes, which are moved up and down by the wind.
The Mars Express probe has been orbiting Mars since 2003. Its mission is to photograph the surface, measure the chemical composition of minerals, study the planet’s tenuous atmosphere, conduct subsurface exploration, and find out how various phenomena interact with the planet’s environment. The video was created from a mosaic of HRSC images taken during eight orbits (0442, 1085, 1944, 1977, 1988, 10497, 14632 and 16684) of the Mars Express probe. The mosaic was combined with topographic data from the digital terrain model to create a three-dimensional object.
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2023-10-15 16:12:49
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