The Claritas Fossae region is characterised by systems of “graben” running mainly north-west to south-east. A graben forms when a block of the planet’s crust drops down between two faults, due to extension, or pulling, of the crust.

This observation can help measure displacements across well-exposed normal faults to investigate stress history and material properties.

This caption is based on the original science rationale.

Written by: HiRISE Science Team   (13 July 2011)

This is a stereo pair with ESP_022621_1535 .

More info and image formats at http://hirise.lpl.arizona.edu/ESP_022476_1535

Image: NASA/JPL/University of Arizona