layers

December 12, 2016

Them that make ripples and them that don’t

A Piece of Mars: Higher ground is to the left. You’re seeing a tan layer sandwiched between two gray layers in this 0.96×0.54 km (0.6×0.34 mi) scene. Large ripples have accumulated in the lowest area to the right, which is […]
October 10, 2016

The spire in Eberswalde crater

A Piece of Mars: OK, you have to bring out the red/blue glasses for this one. (Or click here if you’re missing your glasses and want the black and white version.) Eberswalde crater has some lovely layered deposits, long ago […]
October 3, 2016

Windblown: ancient and recent

A Piece of Mars: HiRISE is celebrating 10 years of success by showcasing its first high resolution image, taken back in 2006. Here is a portion of it, shown at 1/4 the full resolution (the scene is 2.5×2.5 km across). […]
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 […]
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) […]
April 11, 2016

Windy windows

A Piece of Mars: Here’s a tiny bit (0.69×0.39 km or 0.43×0.24 mi) of Jezero crater, one of the candidate landing sites for the Mars 2020 rover. On the bottom and left is high-standing volcanic terrain, former lava that flowed […]
March 7, 2016

How far does the wind blow stuff?

A Piece of Mars: Hargrave crater has an amazing array of colorful surfaces, each of which reflects a different type of rock (this scene is 480×270 m or 0.3×0.17 mi). I like the ripples sitting on top of it all; […]
January 25, 2016

Remnants of erosion

A Piece of Mars: The gray area in the center of the 480×270 m (0.3×0.17 mi) area is an erosional remnant: once, more of this area was covered by the gray stuff, but some of it has eroded away (most […]
October 12, 2015

Is it windblown or not?

A Piece of Mars: This scene is 0.96×0.54 km (0.60×0.34 mi) across. There’s an old river valley running across it. The walls of the valley have been eroded and there’s a washboard pattern with a wavelength of ~6m (20 ft). […]