stabilized
August 8, 2016
A Piece of Mars: This 1.92×1.08 km (1.19x 0.67 mi) scene shows eroded ridges that are, in fact, lithified dunes. They are so old that you might not recognize them as dunes without more context. This doesn’t happen much on […]
May 2, 2016
A Piece of Mars: This 480×270 m (0.3×0.17 mi) scene shows a herd of 100-300 m fine-toothed combs grazing on the surface of Mars. Wait, what? No, it’s not really combs. This is actually a landscape covered by two sets […]
October 19, 2015
A Piece of Mars: These “peas-in-a-pod” are dunes covered in long ripples (the scene is 960×480 m, or 0.6×0.3 mi). They’re a bit odd, surrounded by a rippled apron. It reminds me of melted-looking dunes that are common in high […]
October 12, 2015
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). […]
March 18, 2015
A Piece of Mars: With all due apologies to followers of the show Coupling, I have to call these things “melty dunes”. This link shows what a crisp dune should look like. The dunes in this 600×450 m (0.37×0.28 mi) […]
February 17, 2015
A piece of Mars: Most dunes on Mars are dark, like these and these. So why is this one bright? It’s adjacent to a more typical, dark dune. It’s possible that there are two populations of sand here that are […]
September 22, 2014
A piece of Mars: There are two sets of ripples here: tan ones and gray ones, each oriented to a different wind (scene is 300×225 m, or 984×738 ft). The gray ones sit on top of the tan ones, so […]
June 18, 2014
A piece of Mars: Never mind the 4 m (13 ft) boulders that have fallen downslope, or the rippled sandy surfaces here. Look at those bright swirls in the ground. Those are the former interiors of sand dunes, which were […]
April 21, 2014
A piece of Mars: Now here’s something that, as far as I know, can safely be labeled as “uniquely martian”. These dunes (or maybe they’re ripples) are ~25 m wide, and have formed from winds blowing from the upper left. […]