North Polar Layers: Streaking and Unconformity

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Caption:

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This oblique image from NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, of part of the North Polar layered deposits, acquired in the summertime, shows both phenomena in the upper and lower panel, plus a topographic bend in the middle panel . Blue areas in this enhanced color image are covered by frost, whereas the darker colors are from differences in contamination and texture of the icy layers.

In geology, an unconformity is a buried erosion surface, where the bedding layers don't match. It doesn't mean a mismatch in attitudes and beliefs, with rebellious behavior like streaking. But Mars does have streaking of a different kind, from the wind.

This is a stereo pair with ESP_018265_2595 .

The map is projected here at a scale of 25 centimeters (9.8 inches) per pixel. [The original image scale is 35.2 centimeters (13.9 inches) per pixel (with 1 x 1 binning); objects on the order of 106 centimeters (41.7 inches) across are resolved.] North is up.

Background Info:

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

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