Cliffs of Crumbling, Layered Sediments
NASA/JPL-Caltech/UArizona
Cliffs of Crumbling, Layered Sediments
ESP_072533_1680  Science Theme: Composition and Photometry
Massive deposits of sediments rich in hydrated sulfates are found in central Valles Marineris. Such deposits on Earth are soft and easily eroded, and that appears to be true on Mars as well.

There are large gullies and sediment fans along the steepest slopes. Elsewhere on Mars, such slopes are actively eroding in before-and-after HiRISE images, so this would be a good location to observe again in a future year. Linear gaps in data coverage on the bright sun-facing slopes are locations where the image data is saturated.

Written by: Alfred McEwen  (17 May 2022)

This is a stereo pair with ESP_078309_1680.
 
Acquisition date
16 January 2022

Local Mars time
15:47

Latitude (centered)
-11.979°

Longitude (East)
288.079°

Spacecraft altitude
263.1 km (163.5 miles)

Original image scale range
52.6 cm/pixel (with 2 x 2 binning) so objects ~158 cm across are resolved

Map projected scale
50 cm/pixel and North is up

Map projection
Equirectangular

Emission angle
0.5°

Phase angle
60.0°

Solar incidence angle
60°, with the Sun about 30° above the horizon

Solar longitude
158.5°, Northern Summer

For non-map projected images
North azimuth:  97°
Sub-solar azimuth:  24.0°
JPEG
Black and white
map projected  non-map

IRB color
map projected  non-map

Merged IRB
map projected

Merged RGB
map projected

RGB color
non-map projected

JP2
Black and white
map-projected   (289MB)

IRB color
map-projected   (173MB)

JP2 EXTRAS
Black and white
map-projected  (158MB)
non-map           (240MB)

IRB color
map projected  (67MB)
non-map           (176MB)

Merged IRB
map projected  (275MB)

Merged RGB
map-projected  (254MB)

RGB color
non map           (166MB)
ANAGLYPHS
Map-projected, reduced-resolution
Full resolution JP2 download
Anaglyph details page

BONUS
4K (TIFF)
8K (TIFF)
10K (TIFF)

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
B&W label
Color label
Merged IRB label
Merged RGB label
EDR products
HiView

NB
IRB: infrared-red-blue
RGB: red-green-blue
About color products (PDF)

Black & white is 5 km across; enhanced color about 1 km
For scale, use JPEG/JP2 black & white map-projected images

USAGE POLICY
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.