17 April 2004
This Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) image shows a typical fretted terrain valley floor, located southwest of Moreux Crater near 40.3°N, 317.7°W. Prior to the MGS mission, images from the Viking and Mariner 9 orbiters led to speculation that the lineated floors of fretted terrain valleys indicated the results of flowing ice. MGS MOC images have shown that these lineations occur in closed, as well as open, fretted terrain valleys. The lineations might, therefore, have nothing to do with flowing ice. They might instead be an expression of eroded layered material. Studies of fretted terrain landforms are on-going within the Mars science community. This January 2004 image covers an area about 3 km (1.9 mi) across. Sunlight illuminates the scene from the lower left.