PIA21112: Wrinkle Ridges and Pit Craters
 Target Name:  Mars
 Is a satellite of:  Sol (our sun)
 Mission:  Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO)
 Spacecraft:  Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO)
 Instrument:  HiRISE
 Product Size:  2880 x 1800 pixels (w x h)
 Produced By:  Johns Hopkins University/APL
 Other  
Information: 
Other products from ESP_046817_1775
 Full-Res TIFF:  PIA21112.tif (15.56 MB)
 Full-Res JPEG:  PIA21112.jpg (1.001 MB)

Click on the image above to download a moderately sized image in JPEG format (possibly reduced in size from original)

Original Caption Released with Image:

Click here for larger version of PIA21112
Map Projected Browse Image
Click on the image for larger version

Tectonic stresses highly modified this area of Ganges Catena, north of Valles Marineris. The long, skinny ridges (called "wrinkle ridges") are evidence of compressional stresses in Mars' crust that created a crack (fault) where one side was pushed on top of the other side, also known as a thrust fault.

As shown by cross-cutting relationships, however, extensional stresses have more recently pulled the crust of Mars apart in this region. (HiRISE imaged this area in 2-by-2 binning mode, so a pixel represents a 50 x 50 square centimeter.)

The University of Arizona, Tucson, operates HiRISE, which was built by Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp., Boulder, Colo. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Project for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington.

Image Credit:
NASA/JPL-Caltech/Univ. of Arizona

Image Addition Date:
2016-10-19