Location of Mars’s Medusae Fossae Formation

This image shows a height map of the martian surface, with lowest land in blue and highest in white. Standing at an impressive 22 km, Olympus Mons is the tallest volcano in the entire Solar System.

The Medusae Fossae Formation (MFF) is an interesting region close to the equator. It consists of a series of massive wind-sculpted deposits measuring hundreds of kilometres across and several kilometres high. Found at the boundary between Mars’s highlands and lowlands, the MFF is possibly the biggest single source of dust on Mars, and one of the most extensive deposits on the planet.

[Image description: Map of Mars showing one entire hemisphere. The map is coloured to show the height of the land. Labels indicate the equator (crossing the centre of the hemisphere), Olympus Mons (a high volcano) and the Medusae Fossae Formation (close to the line indicated by the equator label).]