Ceraunius Fossae [SEP] located on astronomical body
Ceraunius Fossae
Ceraunius Fossae is an area of intensely fractured terrain in the northern Tharsis region of Mars. It lies directly south of the large volcano Alba Mons and consists of ancient highland crust that has been deformed by numerous parallel faults and tension cracks. In places, younger lava flows cover the fractured terrain, dividing it into several large patches or islands. It is found in the Tharsis quadrangle.
The faults are mainly narrow, north-south oriented graben. Graben (the name is both singular and plural) are
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Name Origin.
The term Ceraunius is from an albedo feature at lat. 19.78°N, long. 267°E. It was named by Greek Astronomer E. M. Antoniadi in 1930 for the Ceraunian Mountains on the coast of Epirus, Greece (now southwestern Albania). Fossa (pl. "fossae") is Latin for ditch and is a descriptor term used in planetary geology for a long, narrow depression or trench. The International Astronomical Union (IAU) formally adopted the term Ceraunius Fossae in 1973.