Sulci Gordii

ESA’s Mars Express imaged the Sulci Gordii region of Mars with its High Resolution Stereo Camera on 23 January 2013 (orbit 11531), with a ground resolution of about 31 m per pixel. Sulci Gordii lies at approximately 17°N / 234°E, about 200 km east of Olympus Mons.

The feature is an ‘aureole’ deposit resulting from a massive landslide that sloughed away from the flanks of Olympus Mons in its distant past. The complex scene is dominated by a series of roughly parallel ridges and valleys (called sulci), with lava or water-carved channels in the southern most (left) portion of the image. Smooth, young volcanic lava flows overlay parts of the sulci.