Impact Crater

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Caption:

MGS MOC Release No. MOC2-520, 21 October 2003

Craters formed by meteor impact are the "tools of the trade" for planetary geologists. Craters have formed on every solid Solar System body, and thus they can be compared to each other and provide insights as to the nature of the object on which the crater occurs. Mars is pocked with craters of a wide range of diameters, from the giant Hellas Basin, which is several thousand kilometers across, to tiny craters of only a few tens of meters in diameter. The impact crater shown in this Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) picture is located in northern Elysium Planitia near 33.1°N, 230.2°W. It is about 3.6 km (2.2 mi) across, nearly four times the size of the famous Meteor Crater in northern Arizona on the North American continent. The impact that formed this crater exposed layered bedrock (visible in the upper walls of the crater). Erosion, mostly by dry mass movement, has created gullies and piles of talus on the crater walls. Dark dots at the base of the wall are large boulders that have come down these slopes. The picture covers an area 3 km (1.9 mi) wide. The scene is illuminated by sunlight from the left/lower left.

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