PIA20006: Fine-Branched Ridges
 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 ESP_024497_1745
 Full-Res TIFF:  PIA20006.tif (15.56 MB)
 Full-Res JPEG:  PIA20006.jpg (1.099 MB)

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This image shows numerous branching ridges with various degrees of sinuosity. These branching forms resemble tributaries funneling and draining into larger channel trunks towards the upper portion of the scene.

The raised relief of these branching ridges suggests that these are ancient channels are inverted due to lithification and cementation of the riverbed sediment, which made it more resistant to erosion than the surrounding material. Wind-blown bedforms are abundant and resemble small ridges that are aligned in an approximately north-south direction.

This is a stereo pair with PSP_007474_1745.

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:
2015-10-14