This is a list of named catenae on Mars. In planetary geology, a catena is a chain of similarly sized craters. On Mars, they are named after nearby

classical albedo features The classical albedo features of Mars are the light and dark features that can be seen on the planet Mars through an Earth-based telescope. Before the age of space probes, several astronomers created maps of Mars on which they gave names to the fe ...

as prescribed by the

International Astronomical Union The International Astronomical Union (IAU; french: link=yes, Union astronomique internationale, UAI) is a nongovernmental organisation with the objective of advancing astronomy in all aspects, including promoting astronomical research, outreac ...

's rules for

planetary nomenclature Planetary nomenclature, like terrestrial nomenclature, is a system of uniquely identifying features on the surface of a planet or natural satellite so that the features can be easily located, described, and discussed. Since the invention of the tel ...

. While catenae on most bodies of the Solar System consist of mainly of

impact crater An impact crater is a circular depression in the surface of a solid astronomical object formed by the hypervelocity impact of a smaller object. In contrast to volcanic craters, which result from explosion or internal collapse, impact crater ...

s, those on Mars consist primarily of collapse pits.

References

*This article was adapted from th
Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature

References

See also