Concentric Crater Fill in the Northern Plains
NASA/JPL-Caltech/UArizona
Concentric Crater Fill in the Northern Plains
PSP_001926_2185  Science Theme: Glacial/Periglacial Processes
This observation shows part of an unnamed crater located in the Northern plains.

The intriguing landforms in the floor of this crater are known as "concentric crater fill." Such landforms are found at high latitudes (approximately above 30 degrees from the equator), where theoretical calculations indicate that ice may exist under the surface, mixed with rocks and soil. Examples of concentric crater fill were first observed in the 1970s, in images acquired by cameras on board the Viking orbiters.

The roughly concentric ridges and throughs in the crater's floor are believed to result from compression caused by viscous flow of a thick mixture of rocks, soils, and ice inward from the crater's walls.

Impact craters with concentric fill are usually shallower than other craters. The crater in this image is approximately 12 kilometers (7.5 miles) in diameter, and 200-400 meters (220-440 yards) deep; other Martian craters of similar diameter but without concentric fill may be as deep as 700 meters (765 yards). Unlike in "regular" craters, the slopes of the walls of craters with concentric fill tend to be convex, and the crater's rim is more rounded.

All these characteristics are consistent with deformation of an ice-rock mixture similar to what's observed in rock glaciers on Earth.



Written by: Sara Martinez-Alonso  (18 April 2007)
 
Acquisition date
24 December 2006

Local Mars time
15:28

Latitude (centered)
38.323°

Longitude (East)
60.534°

Spacecraft altitude
294.9 km (183.3 miles)

Original image scale range
29.5 cm/pixel (with 1 x 1 binning) so objects ~89 cm across are resolved

Map projected scale
25 cm/pixel and North is up

Map projection
Equirectangular

Emission angle
1.2°

Phase angle
55.4°

Solar incidence angle
54°, with the Sun about 36° above the horizon

Solar longitude
155.5°, Northern Summer

For non-map projected images
North azimuth:  97°
Sub-solar azimuth:  348.4°
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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.