This image shows numerous C-shaped depressions within the Medusae Fossae Formation, which is interpreted to consist of volcanic ash. The center of most depressions contains a small hill, which provides a vital clue to how the depressions formed.

These pits may have formed when wind blowing across the ground surface encounters an obstacle (the small hill) that redirects the wind and causes it to start blowing away some of the volcanic ash in front of and to the side of the obstacle. This results in these C-shaped depressions that we now see.

ID: ESP_080844_1735
date: 25 October 2023
altitude: 266 km

https://uahirise.org/hipod/ESP_080844_1735
NASA/JPL-Caltech/UArizona
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