Phoenicis Lacus is named after the phoenix which according to myth burns itself up every 500 years and then is reborn.

[2] The Phoenicis Lacus quadrangle covers the area from 90° to 135° west longitude and 0° to 30° south latitude on Mars.

One of the most prominent features of this quadrangle is a large intersecting set of canyons called Noctis Labyrinthus.

Other interesting features are lava channels, Dark slope streaks, pit crater chains, and large troughs (called fossae).

Research published in the journal Icarus has found pits in Zumba Crater are caused by hot ejecta falling on ground containing ice.

[4][5] Noctis Labyrinthus is a large canyon system found in the Phoenicis Lacus quadrangle.

Research, described in December 2009, found a variety of minerals—including clays, sulfates, and hydrated silicas in some of the layers.

Some people have suggested that future colonists on Mars could use lava tunnels as shelters.

Many of the volcanoes on Mars show strong evidence of past and possible present glacial activity.

[18] It is believed that they are avalanches of bright dust that expose a darker underlying layer.

[22] Dust storms are frequent, especially when the spring season begins in the southern hemisphere.

Research, published in January 2012 in Icarus, found that dark streaks were initiated by airblasts from meteorites traveling at supersonic speeds.

After counting some 65,000 dark streaks around the impact site of a group of five new craters, patterns emerged.

The crater cluster lies near the equator 510 miles south of Olympus Mons, on a type of terrain called the Medusae Fossae formation.

The largest crater in the cluster is about 22 meters (72 feet) in diameter with close to the area of a basketball court.

As the meteorite traveled through the Martian atmosphere it probably broke up; hence a tight group of impact craters resulted.

[27] Pit craters form when a void is produced by a cracking of the surface caused by stretching.

Sinkholes, where the ground falls into a hole (sometimes in the middle of a town) resemble pit craters on Mars.

They are rich in iron and magnesium (mafic) minerals and commonly dark gray in color.

[33] Although Mars displays many volcanoes here and other places, there has been no evidence of recent volcanic activity, even at a very low level.

Research, published in 2017, found no active release of volcanic gases during two successive Martian years.

[34] The dsovery of a new volcano at the east side of Noctis Labrinthus was announced at a conference in March 2024.

The new volcano has a diameter of about 280 miles (450 kilometers and measures roughly 29,600 feet (9,022 meters) in elevation.

[35] Some of the minerals found in the region are mafic (high Ca pyroxenes, e.g., augite)—these suggest volcanic material.