The Eridania region in the southern Martian highlands
The Eridania region in the southern Martian highlands
On New Year's Day 2024, DLR's High Resolution Stereo Camera (HRSC) captured the Caralis Chaos region in the southern Martian highlands during Mars Express orbit 25,235, almost 20 years to the day after its first image. In Mars research, it is assumed that Ariadnes Colles, Atlantis Chaos and Caralis Chaos (as well as Simois Colles, not shown here) represent the remains of the ancient Lake Eridania. It probably extended over approximately 1.1 million square kilometres and may have been the source of the great Ma'adim-Vallis outflow channel further north. Eridania later split into smaller, isolated lakes, which eventually evaporated and seeped away along with much of the rest of the planet's water. Later, the tectonic faults of the Sirenum Fossae ('the trenches of the sirens') were formed, cutting across the landscape from east to west.
