Terby is a crater that is 174 kilometers across and is located on the northern margin of the enormous Hellas impact basin. The diversity of landforms that formed inside of Terby Crater over time, including massive layered mesas, a moat-like smooth depression, fan-shaped deposits, sinuous channels, and evidence of glacial ice, indicate that Terby has a fascinating geologic past.

This HiRISE image captures the side of an approximately 2-km thick mesa within Terby. This mesa consists of thick sequences of layered rocks that are peeking through a smooth, dark deposit that was once more expansive. These layered rocks may have formed in a very deep and expansive lake that filled the greater Hellas basin, possibly preserving a valuable record of environmental conditions on early Mars.

ID: ESP_083921_1525
date: 21 June 2024
altitude: 258 km

https://uahirise.org/hipod/ESP_083921_1525
NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona
#Mars #science #NASA