Aproned mesas in Deuteronilus Mensae, Mars

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In many places, Mars' northern lowlands are separated from its southern highlands by "fretted terrain," a landscape of steep cliffs and table mountains, or mesas. Here, in an area named Deuteronilus Mensae, which is considerably north of the equator, the mesas have strangely textured aprons at their feet. Many lines of evidence suggest that these aprons contain ice underneath the dust and rock visible at the surface. The image covers an area about 100 kilometers wide.

ESA/DLR/FU Berlin (G. Neukum) / Emily Lakdawalla

Part of HRSC image 1483_0000. Here is the data on the HRSCview website, and also on the ASU Mars Data website. This is the same image as in ESA's Deuteronilus Mensae release, but it shows a different cropped area. Here is a wider view of the same area in 3D.

Source data was Level 4, meaning that it has all been reprojected onto the HRSC-derived DEM to remove geometric distortion. A composite of infrared, green, and blue channel color data was overlaid onto the higher-resolution nadir-channel image. At its full size the image has 25 meters per pixel. The original nadir data resolution was 12.5 meters per pixel, the color data 50 meters per pixel. The contrast has been stretched to enhance features.

Here is a detail view of an interesting feature:

ESA / DLR / FU Berlin (G. Neukum) / Emily Lakdawalla

Detail view of mass wasting feature within Deuteronilus Mensae

The full image covers an area about 21 kilometers wide.

In many places, Mars' northern lowlands are separated from its southern highlands by "fretted terrain," a landscape of steep cliffs and table mountains, or mesas. Here, in an area named Deuteronilus Mensae, which is considerably north of the equator, the mesas have strangely textured aprons at their feet. Many lines of evidence suggest that these aprons contain ice underneath the dust and rock visible at the surface. The image is about 200 kilometers wide.

ESA/DLR/FU Berlin (G. Neukum) / Emily Lakdawalla

Crossed-eye stereo

Parallel-eye stereo

Flicker gif

Copyright holder: Emily Lakdawalla