Proctor Crater Dune Field
NASA/JPL-Caltech/UArizona
Proctor Crater Dune Field
PSP_004077_1325  Science Theme: Aeolian Processes
This observation shows the edge of a dark dune field on the floor of Proctor Crater, a 150-kilometer diameter crater in the southern highlands of Mars.

The dark dunes are composed of basaltic sand that has collected on the bottom of the crater. Dark dune slip faces (the steeper sides of the dunes) are located on the east side of the dunes and are believed to have formed in response to fall and winter westerly winds caused by geostrophic forces (winds balanced by Coriolis and pressure gradient forces). Superimposed on their surface are smaller secondary dunes that are commonly seen on terrestrial dunes of this size.

Many smaller and brighter bed forms, most likely small dunes or granule ripples, cover the substrate between the larger dark dunes as well as most of the floor of Proctor Crater. The dark dunes overlie the small bright bedforms indicating that they formed more recently. In several areas, however, the dark dunes appear to influence the orientation of the small bright dunes, possibly by wind flowing around the larger ones, suggesting that both dark and bright bedforms are contemporaneous. The dunes in Proctor Crater may be active today, moving in response to Martian winds.

Written by: Maria Banks  (8 August 2007)

This is a stereo pair with PSP_003800_1325.
 
Acquisition date
10 June 2007

Local Mars time
15:30

Latitude (centered)
-47.038°

Longitude (East)
30.669°

Spacecraft altitude
251.2 km (156.1 miles)

Original image scale range
28.2 cm/pixel (with 1 x 1 binning) so objects ~85 cm across are resolved

Map projected scale
25 cm/pixel and North is up

Map projection
Equirectangular

Emission angle
27.7°

Phase angle
22.7°

Solar incidence angle
47°, with the Sun about 43° above the horizon

Solar longitude
254.6°, Northern Autumn

For non-map projected images
North azimuth:  98°
Sub-solar azimuth:  19.4°
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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.