Obstacles and Wakes in Lava
NASA/JPL-Caltech/UArizona
Obstacles and Wakes in Lava
ESP_048745_2095  Science Theme: Volcanic Processes
Amazonis Planitia is a broad plain on Mars, covered with ancient lava. This image shows an interesting feature of an old lava flow.

When it was mostly liquid, the lava had a crust of cooled debris floating on the surface. Here, the crust just barely scraped over some hills. The flow was able to make it past the hills, but the rubble crust was caught and piled up, forming thick masses of debris.

Downstream from the hills, there was no crust left and the lava formed a smoother, fresh surface. Observations like this tell us about the scale of the lava flow (which must have been a huge sheet) and also which direction it was moving at the time when the crust interacted with the hills.

Written by: Colin Dundas (narration: Tre Gibbs)  (21 February 2017)

This is a stereo pair with ESP_049378_2095.
 
Acquisition date
19 December 2016

Local Mars time
14:14

Latitude (centered)
29.116°

Longitude (East)
204.327°

Spacecraft altitude
291.9 km (181.4 miles)

Original image scale range
59.0 cm/pixel (with 2 x 2 binning) so objects ~177 cm across are resolved

Map projected scale
50 cm/pixel and North is up

Map projection
Equirectangular

Emission angle
8.3°

Phase angle
68.5°

Solar incidence angle
63°, with the Sun about 27° above the horizon

Solar longitude
283.4°, Northern Winter

For non-map projected images
North azimuth:  97°
Sub-solar azimuth:  311.0°
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4K (TIFF)
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IRB: infrared-red-blue
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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.