This image in the Acidalia Planitia region of Mars shows numerous round hills that have a large circular depression on their tops. These pitted mounds may be ancient mud volcanoes that formed when liquid mud erupted from underground due to shaking from a nearby Marsquake.

Similar to volcanoes formed out of molten rock, or lava, mud volcanoes form as the erupted mud piles up at the surface. Acidalia Planitia was likely a large depression that filled with mud, sand, and other sediments that were transported here by water flowing from regions to the south.

ID: ESP_078491_2225
date: 25 April 2023
altitude: 300 km

https://uahirise.org/hipod/ESP_078491_2225
NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona
#Mars #science #NASA