HiRISE | Ancient Highland Bedrock Cut by Valley Network (PSP_006769

NASA/JPL-Caltech/UArizona

Ancient Highland Bedrock Cut by Valley Network
PSP_006769_1595 Science Theme: Hydrothermal Processes

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This image shows a portion of the southern highlands cut by Arda Valles, an ancient valley network.

The valley network is degraded as seen by the lack of obvious walls and a V-shaped bottom. The valley networks are thought to have formed by running liquid water on the surface of Mars billions of years ago, with a few being active more recently.

Arda Valles has many dunes within it and craters on top of it, which show that is has been around for long enough for craters to form. The surface that Arda Valles cuts is more cratered than the valley surface because wind has moved material into the valley throughout time such that the surface in the valley gets covered and past craters might be buried there.

Written by: Kelly Kolb (4 June 2008)

Acquisition date
05 January 2008

Local Mars time
14:38

Latitude (centered)
-20.340°

Longitude (East)
327.249°

Spacecraft altitude
259.5 km (161.3 miles)

Original image scale range
26.2 cm/pixel (with 1 x 1 binning) so objects ~78 cm across are resolved

Map projected scale
25 cm/pixel and North is up

Map projection
Equirectangular

Emission angle
6.9°

Phase angle
41.4°

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

Solar longitude
13.3°, Northern Spring

For non-map projected images
North azimuth: 97°
Sub-solar azimuth: 35.3°

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   (1262MB)

IRB color
map-projected   (563MB)

JP2 EXTRAS
Black and white
map-projected (672MB)
non-map           (732MB)

IRB color
map projected (248MB)
non-map           (573MB)

Merged IRB
map projected (297MB)

Merged RGB
map-projected (303MB)

RGB color
non map           (545MB)

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.