The Phlegra Montes region
The Phlegra Montes region
This colour image was created using data from the nadir channel, the field of view of which is which is directed vertically down onto the Martian surface, and the High Resolution Stereo Camera (HRSC) colour channels; north is to the right in the image.
Copyright note:
As a joint undertaking by DLR, ESA and FU Berlin, the Mars Express HRSC images are published under a Creative Commons licence since December 2014: ESA/DLR/FU Berlin, CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO. This licence will also apply to all HRSC images released to date.
Even though the ochre-coloured shadows associated with Mars dominate the landscape, the image data from the four HRSC colour channels can be processed to enable the material and textural differences on the surface of Mars to be accentuated to a degree. This can be seen, for example, in the low plains to the west of the region (upper left in the image), in the valley surrounded by hills in the right half of the image and in the neighbouring valleys. These colour differences may be related to variations in the geological composition of the surface of Mars, or they might be caused by differing material properties such as disparate particle sizes or dissimilar degrees of compaction.