2. Methodology
Faults were mapped at a 1:24,000 scale within the Bathys Planum map
region using Esri’s ArcGIS Pro. Distinctive structures were identified
and interpreted to be strike-slip faults in the southern half of the
mapping area, centered near 115oW,
38oS. Although Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Thermal
Emission Imaging System (THEMIS with average resolution of 100 m/px;
Christensen et al., [2004]) daytime-infrared global basemap v. 13.6
was used as the project’s overall basemap, the structures could only be
resolved using Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) Context Camera (CTX
with 6 m/px average resolution; Malin et al., [2007]) images
co-registered to the THEMIS basemap.
Only fault strands with definitive surface expressions were digitized;
no inferred traces were mapped. Strands were divided into four
categories (left-lateral strike-slip; right-lateral strike-slip;
compressional; uncertain). Strike-slip landforms were mapped in
association with all mapped fault strands and classified based on
whether they are transpressional or transtensional (criteria are
explained in the subsequent section).