Layers, Landslides, and Sand Dunes

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Caption:

Released 27 October 2003

This image shows the northern rim of one of the Valles Marineris canyons. Careful inspection shows many interesting features here. Note that the spurs and gullies in the canyon wall disappear some distance below the top of the canyon wall, indicating the presence of some smooth material here that weathers differently from the underlying rocks. On the floor of the canyon, there are remains from a landslide that came hurtling down the canyon wall between two spurs. Riding over the topography of the canyon floor are many large sand dunes, migrating generally from the lower right to upper left.

Image information: VIS instrument. Latitude -14.1°, Longitude 306.7° East (53.3%deg; West). 19 meter/pixel resolution.

Note: this THEMIS visual image has not been radiometrically nor geometrically calibrated for this preliminary release. An empirical correction has been performed to remove instrumental effects. A linear shift has been applied in the cross-track and down-track direction to approximate spacecraft and planetary motion. Fully calibrated and geometrically projected images will be released through the Planetary Data System in accordance with Project policies at a later time.

Background Info:

NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory manages the 2001 Mars Odyssey mission for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, D.C. The Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS) was developed by Arizona State University, Tempe, in collaboration with Raytheon Santa Barbara Remote Sensing. The THEMIS investigation is led by Dr. Philip Christensen at Arizona State University. Lockheed Martin Astronautics, Denver, is the prime contractor for the Odyssey project, and developed and built the orbiter. Mission operations are conducted jointly from Lockheed Martin and from JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena.

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