PIA17643: Basin in the West Candor Chasma Layered Deposits
 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:  University of Arizona/HiRISE-LPL
 Other  
Information: 
Other products from image ESP_017741_1745
 Full-Res TIFF:  PIA17643.tif (15.56 MB)
 Full-Res JPEG:  PIA17643.jpg (877.5 kB)

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Original Caption Released with Image:

This basin in Ceti Mensa exposes concentric rings in the sedimentary layers. Dark sand ripples and textures in the bedrock suggesting wind scouring are also apparent.

Wind is a powerful, erosive force, transporting fine-grain sediments that can shape topography and expose darker material underneath the surface. One such feature of wind-scour on Mars is in Gale Crater, where scouring has created a stair-step pattern.

HiRISE is one of six instruments on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. The University of Arizona, Tucson, operates the orbiter's HiRISE camera, 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 the NASA Science Mission Directorate, Washington.

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

Image Addition Date:
2013-08-21