These dark streaks, also known as "slope streaks," in an area of Mars called Acheron Fossae resulted from dust avalanches. The High-Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera aboard NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter captured them on Dec. 3, 2006.

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