Tempe Terra is a heavily cratered highland region in the northern hemisphere of the planet

Planet

A planet is a celestial body orbiting a star or stellar remnant that is massive enough to be rounded by its own gravity, is not massive enough to cause thermonuclear fusion, and has cleared its neighbouring region of planetesimals.The term planet is ancient, with ties to history, science,...

 Mars

Mars

Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun in the Solar System. The planet is named after the Roman god of war, Mars. It is often described as the "Red Planet", as the iron oxide prevalent on its surface gives it a reddish appearance...

. Located at the northeastern edge of the Tharsis

Tharsis

The Tharsis region on Mars is a vast volcanic plateau centered near the equator in Mars’ western hemisphere. The region is home to the largest volcanoes in the Solar System, including the three enormous shield volcanoes Arsia Mons, Pavonis Mons, and Ascraeus Mons, which are collectively known as...

 volcanic province, Tempe Terra is notable for its high degree of crustal fracturing and deformation. It also contains a large number of small shield volcano

Shield volcano

A shield volcano is a type of volcano usually built almost entirely of fluid lava flows. They are named for their large size and low profile, resembling a warrior's shield. This is caused by the highly fluid lava they erupt, which travels farther than lava erupted from more explosive volcanoes...

es and other volcanic structures.

The region is named after the albedo feature

Albedo feature

An albedo feature is a large area on the surface of a planet which shows a contrast in brightness or darkness with adjacent areas....

 Tempe, first used by astronomer E.M. Antoniadi in 1930 to describe a bright patch of terrain centered near 40°N, 70°W. The name comes from the Vale of Tempe

Vale of Tempe

The Vale of Tempe is a gorge in northern Thessaly, Greece, located between Olympus to the north and Ossa to the south. The valley is 10 kilometers long and as narrow as 25 meters in places, with cliffs nearly 500 meters high, and through it flows the Pineios River on its way to the Aegean Sea...

, a valley located south of Mount Olympus

Mount Olympus

Mount Olympus is the highest mountain in Greece, located on the border between Thessaly and Macedonia, about 100 kilometres away from Thessaloniki, Greece's second largest city. Mount Olympus has 52 peaks. The highest peak Mytikas, meaning "nose", rises to 2,917 metres...

 and celebrated by the ancient Greeks for its beauty. The International Astronomical Union

International Astronomical Union

The International Astronomical Union IAU is a collection of professional astronomers, at the Ph.D. level and beyond, active in professional research and education in astronomy...

 (IAU) formally designated the region Tempe Terra in 1979. Terra (pl. terrae) is a Latin descriptor term used in planetary geology for continent-like highland regions (i.e., extensive land masses) on other planets.

Location and description

Tempe Terra is centered at 39.7°N 289°E and spans about 2,700 km at its broadest extent. The region extends from about 30° to 54°N and from 265° to 310°E, covering approximately 2.1 million km², or an area roughly equivalent to that of Saudi Arabia

Saudi Arabia

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia , commonly known in British English as Saudi Arabia and in Arabic as as-Sa‘ūdiyyah , is the largest state in Western Asia by land area, constituting the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and the second-largest in the Arab World...

. It is bordered to the east by Acidalia Planitia

Acidalia Planitia

Acidalia Planitia is a plain on Mars. It is located between the Tharsis volcanic province and Arabia Terra to the north of Valles Marineris, centered at...

, to the north by the low-lying plains of Arcadia

Arcadia

Arcadia is one of the regional units of Greece. It is part of the administrative region of Peloponnese. It is situated in the central and eastern part of the Peloponnese peninsula. It takes its name from the mythological character Arcas. In Greek mythology, it was the home of the god Pan...

 and Vastitas Borealis

Vastitas Borealis

Vastitas Borealis is the largest lowland region of Mars. It is in the northerly latitudes of the planet and encircles the northern polar region. Vastitas Borealis is often simply referred to as the Northern plains or Northern lowlands of Mars. The plains lie 4–5 km below the mean radius of...

, and to the south by the huge outflow channel Kasei Vallis

Kasei Vallis

Kasei Vallis, which means "Mars" in Japanese, is a large channel system in the Lunae Palus quadrangle, on Mars. It is located at 24.6° north latitude and 65° west longitude. It begins in Echus Chasma, near Valles Marineris, and empties into Chryse Planitia, not far from where Viking 1 landed. Kasei...

.

Geology

Tempe Terra occupies a transition zone between the old, heavily cratered highlands of the Martian south and the geologically younger, lowland terrain of the north. Tempe Terra contains the northernmost exposures of ancient highland crust on the planet. The region is transected by large numbers of linear to curvilinear normal faults and graben

Graben

In geology, a graben is a depressed block of land bordered by parallel faults. Graben is German for ditch. Graben is used for both the singular and plural....

s with ages that span much of Mars' geologic history. Research on extension, or rifts in the crust, has suggested Tempa Terra may be the most highly strained geologic region on Mars with a lot of low shield volcanoes

Shield volcano

A shield volcano is a type of volcano usually built almost entirely of fluid lava flows. They are named for their large size and low profile, resembling a warrior's shield. This is caused by the highly fluid lava they erupt, which travels farther than lava erupted from more explosive volcanoes...

.