A Plateau in Ares Vallis

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Caption:

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This channelized area is near the source region of the huge outflow channel, Ares Vallis. It was at the distal end or "long-ways down-river-area" where the Pathfinder/Sojourner mission landed on 4 July 1997.

This tiny region of Ares Vallis is on a plateau and did not contribute much to the overall water discharge. The slope downhill at the northeast edge of the image leads to the main channel.

Dune- and ripple-like transverse aeolian ridges (TARs) have since covered the bottom of the channels. These are oriented perpendicularly to the winds that must flow through these now-dry channels.

Background Info:

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

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