August 1, 2016

Dunes not in the global dune database

A Piece of Mars: Ten years ago I participated in a global survey of martian dunes. But we missed a few dune fields, like these beauties. They’re small, low, and in rugged terrain, which made them difficult to spot in […]
July 25, 2016

When the martian surface is eroded, pretty things emerge

A Piece of Mars: Just like at Earth’s Grand Canyon, erosion on Mars has created some really beautiful landscapes. This 480×270 m (0.3×0.17 mi) scene shows rugged terrain that was once buried in sediment. Does the texture here represent the […]
July 18, 2016

Where we have been

A Piece of Mars: This 0.98×0.54 km (0.61×0.34 mi) scene shows ancient windblown bedforms (maybe dunes) that have been partially eroded by the wind. The wind has left behind ghostly stripes: these are remnants of where these things once were, […]
July 5, 2016

Landslides unlike any on Earth

A Piece of Mars: Click on this 0.96×0.54 km (0.6×0.33 mi) scene to see it in detail. Many thin, narrow landslides have formed on these dust-coated hills. As far as I’m aware, there’s nothing like this on Earth. Inside the […]
June 27, 2016

How to hide geology on Mars

A Piece of Mars: Three things are trying to hide in this 0.96×0.48 km (0.6×0.3 mi) scene. 1) Craters are slowly being both scoured and buried by migrating sand, 2) the sand itself is hiding in the lee of crater […]
June 13, 2016

New craters and wind

A Piece of Mars: The two small dark craters (2.25-2.4 m, or 7.4-7.8 ft across) are brand new, having appeared in CTX images sometime between May 2007 and April 2008. They punched through a layer of bright dust and threw […]
June 6, 2016

Itty bitty changes: places where the wind barely moves sand

A Piece of Mars: Not all dunes on Mars are moving at a measurable pace. This 0.96×0.45 km (0.6×0.28 mi) scene looks a lot like one I posted 3 years ago called Martian Sports. This image shows the same dunes […]
May 31, 2016

Neverending dust

A Piece of Mars: Some parts of Mars, like this one, are very dusty. This 1.92×1.1 km (1.2×0.67 mi) area has built up a thick deposit of dust that slowly buries the impact craters until they’re mere ghosts of the […]
May 23, 2016

Dune cannibals II

A Piece of Mars: This 0.96×0.54 km (0.60×0.34 mi) scene shows two sets of bedforms (dunes), each aligned in different directions. The more closely-spaced set has sharper crests, and it’s superposed on top of (and it is therefore younger than) […]