Mars Picture of the Day: Yardangs and Exhumation
Mars Global Surveyor Mars Orbiter Camera
MGS MOC Release No. MOC2-359, 13 May 2003
 NASA/JPL/Malin Space Science Systems |
This Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) image
shows the results of wind erosion of a thick deposit of fine-grained,
cemented material. The ridges oriented roughly from upper left to
lower right (northwest to southeast) are called yardangs.
Similar features occur in some of Earth’s desert regions. The flat
surface with narrow, sinuous ridges at the top (north) end of
the picture is interpreted to be an ancient lava plain that is
being slowly revealed as the overlying materials are eroded away.
This picture is located near
13.2°N, 159.9°W.
Sunlight illuminates the scene from the
left/lower left.
Malin Space Science Systems and the California Institute of Technology
built the MOC using spare hardware from the Mars Observer mission.
MSSS operates the camera from its facilities in San Diego, California.
The Jet Propulsion Laboratory’s Mars Surveyor Operations Project
operates the Mars Global Surveyor spacecraft with its industrial
partner, Lockheed Martin Astronautics, from facilities in Pasadena,
California and Denver, Colorado.
