Light-toned Mounds in Gorgonum Basin
NASA/JPL-Caltech/UArizona
Light-toned Mounds in Gorgonum Basin
ESP_050948_1430  Science Theme: Sedimentary/Layering Processes
Gorgonum Basin is one of several large basins within the Terra Sirenum region of Mars. Each basin has light-toned mounds, many of which contain clays.

Scientists think that Terra Sirenum once had a large lake during an epoch called the Late Noachian/Early Hesperian, and each basin filled with sediments. The water within the lake may have altered these sediments to form the clays we now observe from orbit. Ma’adim Vallis, which drains into Gusev Crater where the Spirit rover landed, drained the water from this ancient lake.

Why the basin floors exhibit mounds similar to chaos regions on Mars is unknown, but could be the result of collapse and subsequent erosion within the basins.



Written by: Cathy Weitz (audio: Tre Gibbs)  (29 June 2017)

This is a stereo pair with ESP_046478_1430.
 
Acquisition date
09 June 2017

Local Mars time
14:36

Latitude (centered)
-36.763°

Longitude (East)
190.313°

Spacecraft altitude
254.8 km (158.4 miles)

Original image scale range
26.7 cm/pixel (with 1 x 1 binning) so objects ~80 cm across are resolved

Map projected scale
25 cm/pixel and North is up

Map projection
Equirectangular

Emission angle
18.5°

Phase angle
46.9°

Solar incidence angle
57°, with the Sun about 33° above the horizon

Solar longitude
17.0°, Northern Spring

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North azimuth:  97°
Sub-solar azimuth:  50.0°
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All of the images produced by HiRISE and accessible on this site are within the public domain: there are no restrictions on their usage by anyone in the public, including news or science organizations. We do ask for a credit line where possible:
NASA/JPL-Caltech/UArizona

POSTSCRIPT
NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, Calif., manages the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate, Washington. The HiRISE camera was built by Ball Aerospace and Technology Corporation and is operated by the University of Arizona.