Gullies and Voids
NASA/JPL-Caltech/UArizona
Gullies and Voids
ESP_021741_1415  Science Theme: Tectonic Processes
Intricate gullies have formed on the northern wall of this impact crater located in the Terra Cimmeria region.

This crater may have formed in a region rich in ground water. This groundwater likely flowed down the wall, eventually eroding numerous gullies while carrying sediments to form fan deposits. Ultimately the water likely infiltrated and froze beneath the surface. Other hypotheses say gullies form through carbon dioxide frost avalanches that we can see today.

What about this chain of pits snaking their way downhill? After material was transported, subsurface voids may have formed, removing support for the overlying material. The collapse of the surface into the cavities below likely resulted in the pits and troughs, perhaps beginning a new cycle of gully formation.

Written by: Ginny Gulick (narration: Tre Gibbs)  (5 February 2018)
 
Acquisition date
17 March 2011

Local Mars time
15:11

Latitude (centered)
-37.985°

Longitude (East)
163.278°

Spacecraft altitude
253.2 km (157.4 miles)

Original image scale range
51.0 cm/pixel (with 2 x 2 binning) so objects ~153 cm across are resolved

Map projected scale
50 cm/pixel and North is up

Map projection
Equirectangular

Emission angle
6.5°

Phase angle
36.3°

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

Solar longitude
256.2°, Northern Autumn

For non-map projected images
North azimuth:  97°
Sub-solar azimuth:  10.5°
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Black & white is 5 km across; enhanced color about 1 km
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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.