Venus - Asteria Regio and Phoebe Regio

This view of the surface of Venus acquired by the Magellan spacecraft shows a geographically young region of lowland plains. The location is near the equator between two highland areas known as Asteria Regio and Phoebe Regio. Illumination in the radar image is from the left (west); in this transformed version the viewer looks due north with a slant angle of about 10 degrees. The region seen is about 40 kilometers (24 miles) wide and stretches 600 km (360 miles) down range to the north. Complex canyon systems that trend northeast and northwest were produced as Venus' crust was pulled apart by extensional forces. Some were filled with younger lava flows. The canyons are typically 5 to 10 km (3 to 6 miles) wide, 50 to 100 km (30 to 60 miles) long and rimmed by fault scarps a hundred meters or so high.