Tag Archives: ripples
Hills, boulders, and wind
A piece of Mars: In the lower left of the image, a small hill stands above a plain partly covered by stabilized ripples. Boulders have rolled down the hill as it slowly erodes. If these ripples aren't ever activated by ...
The colors of geology
A piece of Mars: Here in the bottom of a crater in Coprates Chasma is the intersection of two sets of ripples: dark, dust-free ripples at the bottom of the crater, and lighter ripples formed from debris that has come ...
Where does martian sand come from?
A piece of Mars: The source of dune sand on Mars is normally something of a mystery. But here on the interior wall of a small crater it appears that small gullies have eroded sediment from the wall and carried ...
New dust devils swirls
A piece of Mars: Swirly loops form on the martian surface as dust devils pass by, cleaning up dust on the surface and revealing the dark, rippled dune beneath. Every year the swirls get cleaned off and reform -- such ...
Dunes on crater bones
A piece of Mars. The dark circle (~170 m across) in the middle of the picture is the interior of what used to be a crater. It's now almost completely eroded away, probably by the wind. Small dunes have formed ...
Topography and the wind
A piece of Mars: Everybody else loves this image because it shows an inverted channel -- the remains of a stream that once flowed through this area. But I love it because the little dunes were also formed by a ...
The Painted Desert, on Mars
A piece of Mars: Small dunes or ripples in a depression provide a striking contrast with the surrounding bedrock. The sand in the dunes changes color, too, to mark off which regions have more recently been actively moved by the ...
Crescents and ripples
A piece of Mars: A lonely dune slowly makes its way (towards the upper right) across a plain. Well, look closer, it's not all that lonely. Surrounding it on the plain are smaller streaks that are ripples, which also once ...
Generations of wind-blown landscapes
A piece of Mars: Some places on Mars highlight just how effective the wind is at sculpting the surface. This is a good example. Dark and light stripes on the right show not one but two successive influxes of sand: ...
Big dunes and little dunes
A Piece of Mars: A large dune (on the right, bluish) rests on a surface covered in much smaller dunes or ripples (on the left, cream). This is part of my favorite dune field on Mars. Can you spot the ...