The High Resolution Stereo Camera (HRSC) on the ESA’s Mars Express probe captured these stunning images of Noctis Labyrinthus, which is located between the massive Valles Marineris and the tallest volcanoes in the solar system (Tharsis region). We get a clear view of the ‘graben’, or parts of the crust that have subsided in relation to their surroundings.
What caused the ‘graben’? The many volcanoes in the Tharsis region, as they caused large areas of martian crust to arch upwards and become stretched and tectonically stressed. On a related note, the highest visible plateaus actually represent the original surface level before chunks of surface fell away.
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ESA has highlighted Mars Express images of Noctis Labyrinthus before, in 2006 and 2015. Mars Express has orbited the Red Planet since 2003, imaging Mars’s surface, mapping its minerals, studying its tenuous atmosphere, probing beneath its crust, and exploring how various phenomena interact in the martian environment,” said the agency.
