Tectonics of Mars southern highlands, and the Tharsis plateau. Much tectonic study of Mars seeks to explain the processes that led to the planet's division into these three provinces, and how their differing characteristics arose. Hypotheses proposed to explain how the two primary tectonic events may have occurred are usually divided into endogenic (arising from the planet itself) and exogenic (foreign to the planet, e.g., meteorite impact) processes. This distinction occurs throughout the study of tectonics on Mars. In general, Mars lacks unambiguous evidence that terrestrial-style plate tectonics has shaped its surface. However, in some places magnetic anomalies in the Martian crust that
Moons of Mars other small moons that suffered the fate expected of Phobos, and that the Martian crust as a whole shifted between these events. Deimos, on the other hand, is far enough away that its orbit is being slowly boosted instead, as in the case of our own Moon. The origin of the Martian moons is still controversial. Phobos and Deimos both have much in common with carbonaceous C-type asteroids, with spectra, albedo, and density very similar to those of C- or D-type asteroids. Based on their similarity, one hypothesis is that both moons may be captured main-belt asteroids. Both moons have