The thinnest landslides

A Piece of Mars: In the dustiest regions of Mars, steep slopes occasionally produce very thin avalanches of dust, revealing a darker surface under the top layer of dust. This shows one that is 610 m (0.38 mi) long, running from its tiny point of initiation near the top of the slope down to the bottom of the slope where accumulated landslides have slowly buried old windblown dunes (or TARs). These landslides occur every spring, and may be triggered by sublimation of small accumulations of winter ice, or perhaps by the wind. This one formed some time between May 7, 2012 and May 22, 2013, as it appeared between two successive images of this spot. It’s still there today, most recently imaged on May 5, 2017, slowly accumulating dust until it fades into the background with the rest of the slope. (HiRISE ESP_035307_2115, NASA/JPL/Univ. of Arizona)