erosion
December 4, 2017
A Piece of Mars: To the upper right of this 0.85×0.6 km (0.53×0.37 mi) scene is a flat-lying plain strewn with large ripples. To the lower left is a rugged hill with gray rock laced with white veins (this might […]
November 27, 2017
A Piece of Mars: The rippled darker patch in this 600×600 m (0.37×0.37 mi) scene is the former site of a sand dune. This is one of a few “dune corpses” found just upwind of a dune field in Holden […]
November 15, 2017
A Piece of Mars: There’s a fabric of erosion in this 1×1 km (0.62×0.62 mi) scene, with the main wind blowing from lower right to upper left (and if you look carefully you’ll see there’s a second, subtler fabric a […]
October 23, 2017
A Piece of Mars: It’s all about wind scour here in this 0.75×0.75 km (0.47×0.47 mi) view. The big “swoop” is an erosional channel dug into the surface by winds (blowing from the lower left) trying to erode the hills […]
September 17, 2017
A Piece of Mars: This 0.95×1 km (.59x.62 mi) scene shows the center of a small dune field. The dunes are shaped by three winds blowing from three different directions: from the west-southwest, east, and south. The north-facing slopes are […]
August 28, 2017
A Piece of Mars: This 2.88×1.13 km (1.79×0.70 mi) scene shows quintessential Mars, with a 670 m diameter impact crater heavily modified by wind erosion. Both the crater floor and the surrounding terrain are covered by what is likely loosely-cemented […]
August 14, 2017
A Piece of Mars: Along the right side of this 0.5×0.5 km (0.31×0.31 mi) scene is the rim of a crater – the stripes are layers exposed (and then perhaps draped by falling ejecta) as the crater formed. To the […]
August 7, 2017
A Piece of Mars: The large dunes in the middle of this 375×450 m (0.23×0.28 mi) scene run along a valley (the small dunes at top and bottom are on high ground). What’s amazing about this is that the ends […]
July 25, 2017
A Piece of Mars: Sand dunes are one of the few sedimentary phenomena that leave behind layers that aren’t horizontal. They tend to have a characteristic lean to them (and we call them cross-strata). So when I see something that […]