THEMIS Image of the Day, October 23, 2018. This false-color VIS image shows some of the plains of Arcadia Planitia in the northern lowlands. Isolated small hills are a common feature in this part of the planitia.
Hills like these can form when a lava flow runs across deposits that are water- or ice-rich. The lava’s heat causes local steam eruptions that burst through the flow and build small cinder cones. These are sometimes called “rootless cones” or “pseudocones” because their source is shallow and not supported by any deep-seated volcanic plumbing.
The THEMIS VIS camera contains 5 filters. The data from different filters can be combined in multiple ways to create a false color image. These false color images may reveal subtle variations of the surface not easily identified in a single band image.