Geological diversity in the Caralis Chaos region
Geological diversity in the Caralis Chaos region
On Mars, chaotic terrain refers to areas in which mountains, plateaus, cracks and rifts are arranged in an apparently jumbled pattern. In January 2024, DLR's HRSC on board ESA's Mars Express spacecraft captured the Caralis Chaos region, which has several interesting and sometimes puzzling landscape features – such as a field of small, light-coloured hills to the northeast (bottom-right of the image). The mounds are located in the remains of a depression that was once filled by a lake. At the centre of the image, very distinctive flow structures can be seen on the outer slopes of the crater, indicating that water once coursed down the ejecta deposits. The scenery is also crossed by two straight tectonic fracture structures. Caralis was the Latin name of the Sardinian capital Cagliari in Roman times.
