Is That an Impact Crater?
This image was acquired to take a closer look at a circular feature that might be an impact structure on the South Polar layered deposits.
Measuring the sizes and frequency of impact craters provides a constraint on the age of the landscape. However, craters in icy terrain are modified by processes that flatten and change them in such a manner that it is hard to say for sure if it had an impact origin.
https://uahirise.org/hipod/ESP_049075_0995
NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona
HiRISE 3D: East Facing Gullies
These gullies on the western side of a large impact crater are also visible in Context Camera imagery.
https://www.uahirise.org/anaglyph/ESP_084155_1300_ESP_084445_1300_RED
NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona
#Mars #science
Flow Ridges near a Mesa in Protonilus Mensae
The objective of this observation is to examine flow ridges that probably are the result of an old glacier that moved out of a valley from a mesa. Protonilus Mensae is region of chaos terrain. Chaos terrain is typified by regions of blocky, often steep sided, mesas interspersed with deep valleys. With time and erosion the valleys widen and the mesas become smaller.
https://uahirise.org/hipod/ESP_075403_2235
NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona
#Mars #science #NASA
HiRISE 3D; Mesa Stratigraphy at Terby Crater
The 2-3 km sequence of stratigraphy captures a diverse range of sedimentary rock types that includes deposition across all of the three major Martian geologic eras.
https://www.uahirise.org/anaglyph/ESP_084422_1525_ESP_083921_1525_RED
NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona
#Mars #science
@stueytheround Yes, there happens to be a 3D version of this observation:
https://www.uahirise.org/anaglyph/ESP_075397_0910_ESP_074987_0910_RED
A Conical Pit
Also visible in Context Camera data, this observation highlights what is likely a sublimation collapse pit. The pit is about 170 meters across. Other interesting formations, caused by the expansion and contraction of subsurface ice, are also clearly visible.
ID: ESP_075397_0910
date: 27 August 2022
altitude: 246 km
https://uahirise.org/hipod/ESP_075397_0910
NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona
#Mars #science #NASA
HiRISE 3D: A Sinuous Ridge in Arabia Terra
Could this branching and sinuous ridge in Arabia Terra be an exhumed paleo-valley? Continuing with the two adjacent images would make a nice moasic and allow a detailed geological history to be reconstructed.
https://www.uahirise.org/anaglyph/ESP_083937_1895_ESP_083581_1895_RED
NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona
#Mars #science
A Layered Dark-Toned Unit in Utopia Planitia
From HiWish: “Utopia Planitia is known to bear many thermal-contraction crack polygons. We suppose that their density & type depends on the geology of the substrate that bears them. With this image, we will investigate the presence of polygons on a dark-toned layered unit, very similar to other units further north that bear polygons themselves.”
https://uahirise.org/hipod/ESP_075387_2235
NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona
#Mars #science #NASA
Transient Slope Lineae Formation in a Well-Preserved Crater
The appearance and growth of these features resemble seeping liquid water, but how they form remains unclear, and this research demonstrated that the RSL flows seen by HiRISE are likely moving granular material like sand and dust.
HiRISE 3D: From Fluvial Ridges to Flat-Lying Rock
There is an active hypothesis that most of Aeolis Dorsa is flat lying rock that has been eroded to make a deep trough and expose river strata. This image may capture that exact process - the erosion of flat lying river stratigraphy to create very steep and 3D fluvial ridges.
https://www.uahirise.org/anaglyph/ESP_084419_1730_ESP_084208_1730_RED
NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona
#Mars #science
Landslide!
This image shows a fresh (well-preserved) landslide scarp and rocky deposit off the edge of a streamlined mesa in Simud Valles, a giant outflow channel carved by ancient floods.
The stereo images can be used to measure the topography, which in turn constrains models for the strength of the mesa’s bedrock. (Image is less than 5 km across.)
ID: ESP_050033_1920
date: 30 March 2017
altitude: 280 km
https://uahirise.org/hipod/ESP_050033_1920
NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona
#Mars #science #NASA
Unlocking an Impact Crater’s Clues
The materials exposed nearest the crater have distinctive yellowish and lighter grey appearances, while more distant ejected materials range from dark brown to bright bluish in an enhanced-color view. These varied materials may have originated from different layers penetrated by the impact.
Purple Mountain’s Majesty
This image of an isolated mountain in the Southern highlands reveals a large exposure of “purplish” bedrock.
Since HiRISE color is shifted to longer wavelengths than visible color and given relative stretches, this really means that the bedrock is roughly dark in the broad red bandpass image compared to the blue-green and near-infrared bandpass images.
Well-Preserved Impact Ejecta
This image of a well-preserved unnamed elliptical crater in Terra Sabaea, is illustrative of the complexity of ejecta deposits forming as a by-product of the impact process that shapes much of the surface of Mars.
Mantled Terrain in the Southern Mid-Latitudes
This HiRISE image shows terrain typical of these mantling deposits in the Southern Hemisphere, east of Reull Vallis. The pitted texture suggests that ice is sublimating out from the deposits as the region is warmed under current lower obliquity conditions.
HiRISE 3D: A Large Gully
This 3D pic shows a large gully with an undersized apron. Why is apron so small? It may indicate ice-rich mantle.
https://www.uahirise.org/anaglyph/ESP_083213_1425_ESP_083358_1425_RED
NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona
#Mars #science
Looking for Ice
One of MRO’s ongoing campaigns is a search for new impact craters. At high latitudes, such craters often expose ice, which appears bright in HiRISE enhanced-color images. This image was targeted to look at a candidate new crater on a lobate apron. Such aprons are often ice-rich, but the crater shows no bright material that would indicate ice.
More: https://uahirise.org/hipod/ESP_044698_2245
NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona
#Mars #science #NASA
HiRISE 3D: Fluvial Erosion in Harmakhis Vallis
This image is in a corner pointing opposite of the flow, possibly creating an eddy/turbulent area. One goal is to examine for shoreline markings and erosion effects.
https://www.uahirise.org/anaglyph/ESP_075006_1410_ESP_083973_1410_RED
NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona
Fill or Mantling Material in a Crater
High resolution imagery can help determine what this material may be (e.g., ice-rich fill, dust, or other mantling unit?) and estimates of its thickness. With knowledge of its thickness, we can discern how deep the valleys and pit would be without its presence.
HiRISE is a high resolution camera onboard the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (NASA). We take images of the surface of Mars. Based out of UArizona in Tucson.