Light and Dark Bands in Darwin Crater On Mars

Darwin Crater is a 178-kilometer diameter impact crater located in the Southern Hemisphere of Mars, to the southeast of Argyre Planitia.

Originally targeted by MRO’s Context Camera, we see alternating light and dark toned bands in this region. However, the higher-resolution HiRISE camera reveals that these dark bands are actually troughs being infilled by dark-toned dunes and the light-toned bands are actually highly fractured and bouldery resistant layers that form the higher elevation regions.

Dark streaks and dust devil tracks across much of the HiRISE image indicate active sediment transport by wind processes.

ID: ESP_022117_1225
date: 15 April 2011
altitude: 252 km

https://uahirise.org/hipod/ESP_022117_1225NASA/JPL-Caltech/UArizona