How Gas Carves Channels

The ground likely started as polygonal patterned ground (common in water-ice-rich surfaces), and then escaping gas widened the channels. Fans of dark material are bits of the surface carried onto the top of the seasonal ice layer and deposited in a direction determined by local winds.

ID: ESP_046845_0975
date: 24 July 2016
altitude: 247 km

https://uahirise.org/hipod/ESP_046845_0975
NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona
#Mars #science #NASA