Wind-eroded terrain on the edge of Mars’ largest volcanic ash field
Cool image time! The picture to the right, cropped and sharpened to post here, was taken on July 2, 2025 by the high resolution camera on Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO).
Labeled simply as “wavy terrain” by the MRO science team, it shows a relatively flat plain of hollows and terraced ridges that suggest the prevailing winds come from the west-southwest. As they blow, they slowly cause the layers of material to peel away, exposing those terraces.
This wavy landscape extends for many miles to the west, covering a region 135 by 160 miles in area. The layering and wavy nature of the terrain suggests the material here is fragile and easily peeled away by the winds of Mars’ very thin atmosphere. Think of the sandstone that forms Monument Valley and Canyonlands in the southwest United States, shaped almost entirely by wind.
And in fact, the overview map below confirms this.
The red dot near the center of the overview map to the right marks the location, deep within the Medusae Fossae Formation, the largest volcanic ash field on Mars and thought to be the source of much of the Martian dust seen across the entire planet. The white outline indicates the size of this wavy region, with the above picture located on the western edge of wavy landscape. To the west the layers disappear to expose frozen flood lava. The east the layers rise upward to become a high featureless dome of ash.
The blue and orange colors on the map indicate areas below this ash field that scientists using Europe’s Mars Express orbiter believe they have detected very large and extensive deposits of buried ice to depths of one to two thousand feet. Located in the dry Martian tropics, where no near surface ice has been detected, this deep underground ice could be of great value to future settlers, if they can dig down to reach it.
On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.
The print edition can be purchased at Amazon or from any other book seller. If you want an autographed copy the price is $60 for the hardback and $45 for the paperback, plus $8 shipping for each. Go here for purchasing details. The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.
The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News
Cool image time! The picture to the right, cropped and sharpened to post here, was taken on July 2, 2025 by the high resolution camera on Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO).
Labeled simply as “wavy terrain” by the MRO science team, it shows a relatively flat plain of hollows and terraced ridges that suggest the prevailing winds come from the west-southwest. As they blow, they slowly cause the layers of material to peel away, exposing those terraces.
This wavy landscape extends for many miles to the west, covering a region 135 by 160 miles in area. The layering and wavy nature of the terrain suggests the material here is fragile and easily peeled away by the winds of Mars’ very thin atmosphere. Think of the sandstone that forms Monument Valley and Canyonlands in the southwest United States, shaped almost entirely by wind.
And in fact, the overview map below confirms this.
The red dot near the center of the overview map to the right marks the location, deep within the Medusae Fossae Formation, the largest volcanic ash field on Mars and thought to be the source of much of the Martian dust seen across the entire planet. The white outline indicates the size of this wavy region, with the above picture located on the western edge of wavy landscape. To the west the layers disappear to expose frozen flood lava. The east the layers rise upward to become a high featureless dome of ash.
The blue and orange colors on the map indicate areas below this ash field that scientists using Europe’s Mars Express orbiter believe they have detected very large and extensive deposits of buried ice to depths of one to two thousand feet. Located in the dry Martian tropics, where no near surface ice has been detected, this deep underground ice could be of great value to future settlers, if they can dig down to reach it.
On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.
The print edition can be purchased at Amazon or from any other book seller. If you want an autographed copy the price is $60 for the hardback and $45 for the paperback, plus $8 shipping for each. Go here for purchasing details. The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.
The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News