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Hummocky Terrain On Moreux Crater Wall
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Wind has sculpted much of Mars' landscape. In this image, the hummocky interior of Moreux crater, the terrain appears to be blanketed with a mantling layer that softens the wind-sculpted topography. The area is full of alternating dark and light patches. At higher resolution, the dark patches are seen to be boulder fields, while the lighter regions are areas of flatter terrain.
No boulders are seen in the small crater at the bottom center of the image, perhaps because they are covered with a deeper layer of the drift, that accumulated in the floor of the crater. The burial of underlying boulders and rough terrain is clearest in the lower right corner of the image, with distinct boundaries of thicker mantling material. On top of this thickly mantled region is a smaller population of boulders. The "stratigraphy" (order of layers) is such that the bottom layer is rough wind-sculpted terrain and boulder fields, covered by mantle drift, topped by a lower number of smaller boulders. |
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Images from the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment and additional information about the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter are available online at the following websites:
http://www.nasa.gov/mro
http://HiRISE.lpl.arizona.edu
http://marsoweb.nas.nasa.gov/HiRISE/
For information about NASA and agency programs on the Web, visit:
http://www.nasa.gov.
JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington. Lockheed Martin Space Systems is the prime contractor for the project and built the spacecraft. The HiRISE camera was built by Ball Aerospace Corporation and is operated by the University of Arizona.
