Aureum Chaos

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Caption:

Released 11 November 2003

Aureum Chaos is a large crater that was filled with sediment after its formation. After the infilling of sediment, something occurred that caused the sediment to be broken up into large, slumped blocks and smaller knobs. Currently, it is believed that the blocks and knobs form when material is removed from the subsurface, creating void space. Subsurface ice was probably heated, and the water burst out to the surface, maybe forming a temporary lake. Other areas of chaos terrain have large outflow channels that emanate from them, indicating that a tremendous amount of water was released.

Image information: VIS instrument. Latitude -3.2, Longitude 331 East (29 West). 19 meter/pixel resolution.

Note: this THEMIS visual image has not been radiometrically nor geometrically calibrated for this preliminary release. An empirical correction has been performed to remove instrumental effects. A linear shift has been applied in the cross-track and down-track direction to approximate spacecraft and planetary motion. Fully calibrated and geometrically projected images will be released through the Planetary Data System in accordance with Project policies at a later time.

Background Info:

NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory manages the 2001 Mars Odyssey mission for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, D.C. The Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS) was developed by Arizona State University, Tempe, in collaboration with Raytheon Santa Barbara Remote Sensing. The THEMIS investigation is led by Dr. Philip Christensen at Arizona State University. Lockheed Martin Astronautics, Denver, is the prime contractor for the Odyssey project, and developed and built the orbiter. Mission operations are conducted jointly from Lockheed Martin and from JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena.

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