In the southern region of Mars, jets erupt from underneath the carbon dioxide seasonal polar cap as the spring sun warms the surface below the ice. The jets erode the surface and carry small particles to the top of the seasonal ice.

The thin debris falls to the surface of the ice in dark fan-shaped deposits, oriented by the wind blowing at the time of the eruption. The surface below the ice is eroded into channels known as araneiform terrain, colloquially called “spiders.”

ID: ESP_082142_0935
date: 3 February 2024
altitude: 245 km

https://uahirise.org/hipod/ESP_082142_0935
NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona
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