HiRISE Picture of the Day: 12 May 2024 
Yesterday’s HiPOD  •  Archive  
Cataracts in Kasei Valles

Cataracts in Kasei Valles
Obviously these are not the kind of cataracts that can develop in the lenses of your eyes, but large erosional scallops that form in river channels, like the Niagara Falls draining the Great Lakes of North America.

Cataracts are large landforms, and this oblique image covers only a small area of the innermost channel. The ridged material on the channel floor may be a lava flow that followed this channel after it was initially carved by giant floods of water.

ID: PSP_003513_2055
date: 27 April 2007
altitude: 283 km

https://uahirise.org/hipod/PSP_003513_2055
NASA/JPL-Caltech/UArizona
#Mars #science #NASA

Black & white is less than 5 km across; enhanced color is less than 1 km. For full observation details, visit the ID link.