Elevation map of Mars

Aram Chaos is a so called 'chaotic terrain'. Chaotic terrains preferentially occur at the heads of ancient outflow channels. It is not exactly known which processes have created these channels. The widely accepted theory is that water was withdrawn from underneath the chaotic terrain, causing the terrain to collapse, thus forming the fracture patterns (see figure below). Such a withdrawal could, for example, be caused by volcanism underneath. 

The left image is a mosaic image (100 m/pixel) of Aram Chaos. The right image is a High Resolution Stereo Camera (HRSC) image (~12 m/pixel) from Mars Express.

Aram Chaos formed within an ancient impact basin, and it was one of the sources for the Ares Vallis outflow channel (see figure above). The goal of this research is to better understand the role of water, impacts and volcanism in the formation of chaotic terrain and outflow channels. To aid in the mapping, Orion software is used which can extract strike/dip information from combined image and elevation data.

Image Credit: NASA/JPL/ASU