Erosional remnants

A Piece of Mars: The erosionally-streamlined bright areas are on high ground. They are remnants of a vast dusty mantle that once covered this whole area – the rest of it has been blown away. The surrounding regions (check out the whole image) are still covered by that mantle, but here you can see through to the underlying, dark surface made of dark, cratered lava flows. (HiRISE ESP_017914_1685, NASA/JPL/Univ. of Arizona)