PIA24387: A Technicolor Mound near Oxia Planum
 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_066622_2000
 Full-Res TIFF:  PIA24387.tif (15.56 MB)
 Full-Res JPEG:  PIA24387.jpg (1.022 MB)

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An isolated, elongated mound (about 1 mile wide and 3.75 miles long) rises above the smooth, surrounding plains. Horizontal layers are exposed at the northern end of the mound, and its surface is characterized by a very unusual quasi-circular pattern with varying colors that likely reflect diverse mineral compositions.

A closer view shows that the rock has a range of textures, from massive and fractured on the left, to subtle banding or layering on the right. The origin of this mound is unknown, but its formation may be related to the clay-bearing rocks in the nearby Oxia Planum region.

The map is projected here at a scale of 25 centimeters (9.8 inches) per pixel. (The original image scale is 28.5 centimeters [11.2 inches] per pixel [with 1 x 1 binning]; objects on the order of 85 centimeters [33.5 inches] across are resolved.) North is up.

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

Image Credit:
NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona

Image Addition Date:
2021-01-29