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PIA05454: The Answer is in the Crests and Troughs
NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit shows the troughs between the waves of windblown soil that characterize the surface of Gusev Crater. The fine-grained soil, combined with coarse grains indicate that waves are geologic features known as ripples.
 Target Name:  Mars
 Is a satellite of:  Sol (our sun)
 Mission:  Mars Exploration Rover (MER) 
 Spacecraft:  Spirit
 Instrument:  Microscopic Imager 
 Product Size:  1024 x 612 pixels (w x h) 
 Produced By:  JPL 
 Full-Res TIFF:  PIA05454.tif (627.5 kB)
 Full-Res JPEG:  PIA05454.jpg (202.1 kB)  

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:
This microscopic image taken by the Mars Exploration Rover Spirit shows the troughs between the waves of windblown soil that characterize the surface of Gusev Crater, Mars. The fine-grained soil in the troughs, combined with the coarse grains observed in a similar microscopic image taken of the waves' crests, indicate that the waves are geologic features known as ripples, and not dunes. Dunes contain a more uniform distribution of material. This information helps scientists better understand the winds that shape the landscape of Mars. The image was taken on the 41st martian day, or sol, of the rover's mission by its microscopic imager. The observed area is 3 centimeters (1.2 inches) across.
Image Credit:
NASA/JPL/Cornell/USGS

Image Addition Date:
2004-02-26