Geologic map of the Arcadia Quadrangle of Mars

The Arcadia quadrangle of Mars contains three distinct geological provinces: (1) the 1000-km-diameter shield field volcano of Alba Patera, which occupies the southwestern quadrant; (2) the complex Tempe province, which comprises a number of younger volcanic and sedimentary blanket deposits over an ancient, highly cratered crust forming a plateau in the southwestern quadrant; and (3) a plains province, consisting of northern wind-swept, cratered plains and some younger subpolar deposits in the northeast corner of the quadrangle, plus less cratered plains surrounding much of the Tempe and Alba regions. The plateau, informally named the Tempe Plateau and part of the proposed formal term Tempe Terra, is separated from the main regions of cratered martian highlands to the south by Kasei Vallis, appearing at the extreme southeast corner of the map, which slopes northeastward onto Chryse Planitia.