The image at the top shows the Arabia Terra region, a large plain in the Southern Highlands, heavily pockmarked with craters formed by impactors that struck the planet over time.

The volume of craters results from Arabia Terra being one of Mars' oldest geological formations, with estimates ranging from 3.7 to 4.1 billion years old. It was during this time that geologically activity ceased in Mars' interior, causing it to lose its planetary magnetosphere and leading to its atmosphere being slowly stripped away by solar wind.

Credit: ESA/DLR/FU Berlin

by Busy_Yesterday9455

1 Comment

  1. Old-Shock2307 on

    I thought the last time geological activity was around atleast a couple hundred million years ago because that was the last time Olympus mons erupted?