Dark Light

This region of Xanthe Terra has mostly been contracted due to thrust faulting, but this local region shows evidence of extensional faulting, also called normal faulting.

When two normal faults face each other, they create a bathtub-like depression called a “graben.” 


Image: NASA/JPL/University of Arizona https://www.uahirise.org/hipod/ESP_045497_1800
Related Posts
Athabasca Valles

Athabasca Valles

This image is of the upper part of Athabasca Valles, a very young flood channel on Mars that might have been carved by a flood of lava instead of a flood of water.