Rift valley of the Sirenum Fossae near Caralis Chaos

Rift valley of the Sirenum Fossae near Caralis Chaos
Rift valley of the Sirenum Fossae near Caralis Chaos
The Sirenum Fossae, the 'trenches of the sirens', are named after the mythical creatures who in ancient times beguiled fishermen at sea with their singing, luring them to their deaths. On Mars, the Sirenum Fossae are over 2500 kilometres long and are among its most striking tectonic structures. The stretching of the Martian crust, possibly as a result of the bulging of the neighbouring Tharsis region to the northeast, caused the crust to break up creating a tectonic rift, into which the material between the boundaries slipped. The larger of the two craters has a diameter of approximately ten kilometres. The pattern of material ejected during the impact and deposited around the crater indicates that water or ice must have been present underground.
Credit:

ESA/DLR/FU Berlin (CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO)

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