Hydraotes Chaos

This VIS image shows part of Hydraotes Chaos. The general morphology of chaos is steep-sided mesas in close proximity. The melting of sub-surface ice and release to the surface is believed to create the chaos. With time and erosion the valleys widen and the mesas grow smaller. Hydraotes Chaos measures about 300 kilometers (190 miles) wide by roughly 350 km (220 mi) north-south, and it lies in a valley leading northeast out of Ganges Chasma at the east end of Valles Marineris. Tiu Valles flows northward from Hydraotes Chaos to empty into Chryse Planitia.