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Storm Chaser on Mars

March 20, 2012

Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Catches a Twister in Action.

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Two pairs of side-by-side, before and after images from the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter illustrate changes in the shape of edges...
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Changes at Edges of Dark Dunes in Nili Patera, Mars
Changes at Edges of Dark Dunes in Nili Patera, Mars
In Aureum Chaos, the OMEGA experiment on Mars Express indicated the presence of phyllosilicates (clay minerals) which have been detected in a variety of bright outcrops and scarps. The subimage sho...
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The formation of the large outflow channels on Mars have been attributed to catastrophic discharges of ground water. Many of the channels start in areas where the ground has apparently collapsed: the surface is now well below the surrounding undisturbed ground. Within the collapsed region, blocks of undisturbed material can often be seen and this has led to such regions being called chaotic terrain. In Aureum Chaos, the OMEGA experiment on Mars Express indicated the presence of phyllosilicates (clay minerals) which have been detected in a variety of bright outcrops and scarps. The subimage shows such an outcrop in a chaotic terrain region. At the highest resolution, layering can be seen. The image will be used to assess at what stage in Mars's history these clays minerals were formed and how. The area referred to as Aureum Chaos is located at 334 degrees East, 4 degrees South on the West side of the Margaritifer Terra region of Mars.
Light-Toned Outcrop in Aureum Chaos
This animation shows the position of NASA's Curiosity rover as it journeyed through "the clay-bearing unit" on Mars between May 31 and July 20, 2019. The HiRISE camera on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance...
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This animation shows the position of NASA's Curiosity rover as it journeyed through "the clay-bearing unit" on Mars between May 31 and July 20, 2019. The HiRISE camera on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter took both images.
HiRISE Watches Curiosity Journey Across the Clay Unit
This colorful image acquired on May 21, 2018 by NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter shows clays within the Eridania basin region. A large lake may have once existed here.
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This colorful image acquired on May 21, 2018 by NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter shows clays within the Eridania basin region. A large lake may have once existed here.
Clays in the Eridania Basin
This image is located within Northern Sinus Meridiani, a region of ridged terrains and extensive stratigraphic layering. 
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This image is located within Northern Sinus Meridiani, a region of ridged terrains and extensive stratigraphic layering.
Crater with Surrounding Bench in Sinus Meridiani (3-D)
This vertically exaggerated view shows scalloped depressions in a part of Mars where such textures prompted researchers to check for buried ice, using ground-penetrating radar aboard NASA's Mars Re...
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This vertically exaggerated view shows scalloped depressions in a part of Mars where such textures prompted researchers to check for buried ice, using ground-penetrating radar aboard NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. They found about as much frozen water as the volume of Lake Superior.
Scalloped Terrain Led to Finding of Buried Ice on Mars
The battered region of Arabia Terra is among the oldest terrain on Mars.
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The battered region of Arabia Terra is among the oldest terrain on Mars.
Arabia Dunes
This image from NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter shows many new ice blocks compared to earlier images in 2006. One of the most actively changing areas on Mars are the steep edges of the North Pol...
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Ice block avalanche. This image from NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter shows many new ice blocks compared to earlier images in 2006.
Ice Block Avalanche
NASA's Mars rover Curiosity left the "Glenelg" area on July 4, 2013, on a "rapid transit route" to the entry point for the mission's next major destination, the lower layers of Mount Sharp.
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NASA's Mars rover Curiosity left the "Glenelg" area on July 4, 2013, on a "rapid transit route" to the entry point for the mission's next major destination, the lower layers of Mount Sharp.
Curiosity's Progress on Route from 'Glenelg' to Mount Sharp
Wrinkle Ridge in Solis Planum
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Wrinkle Ridge in Solis Planum
Wrinkle Ridge in Solis Planum
This picture of a crater resembling a "happy face" was taken by the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter's Context Camera. The unnamed crater is almost 2 miles (about 3 kilometers) across That's a BIG smile!
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This picture of a crater resembling a "happy face" was taken by the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter's Context Camera. The unnamed crater is almost 2 miles (about 3 kilometers) across That's a BIG smile!
A Smile a Day....
Curiosity performs the first investigation of active sand dunes on another planet. Studying the Bagnold Dunes on Mars will help scientists understand the physics of Martian dunes and how they move.
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Curiosity Rover Report (Dec. 15, 2015): First Visit to Martian Dunes
Curiosity Rover Report (Dec. 15, 2015): First Visit to Martian Dunes
This cross-section view of underground layers near Mars' south pole is a radargram based on data from the Shallow Subsurface Radar (SHARAD) instrument on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter
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This cross-section view of underground layers near Mars' south pole is a radargram based on data from the Shallow Subsurface Radar (SHARAD) instrument on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter
Cross Section of Buried Carbon-Dioxide Ice on Mars
This HiRISE image shows a group of cones, shield-like features, and round mounds.
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This HiRISE image shows a group of cones, shield-like features, and round mounds.
Small Mounds in Chryse Planitia (3-D)
This image from NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter shows Aram Chaos, an ancient impact crater that lies within in the Southern Highlands of Mars. Uplifted blocks are composed largely of the iron-ox...
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This image from NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter shows Aram Chaos, a 280-kilometer-wide impact crater in the Southern Highlands. Uplifted blocks of hematite and water-altered silicates indicate that this crater once held a lake.
Uplifted Blocks of Light-Toned Layered Deposits
Icy Layers and Climate Fluctuations near the Martian North Pole
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Icy Layers and Climate Fluctuations near the Martian North Pole
Icy Layers and Climate Fluctuations near the Martian North Pole
This image shows an outcrop of the south polar layered deposits (SPLD). The SPLD consist of layers of ice and admixed dust and make up the bulk of the dome-shaped Planum Australe.
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This image shows an outcrop of the south polar layered deposits (SPLD). The SPLD consist of layers of ice and admixed dust and make up the bulk of the dome-shaped Planum Australe. Planum Australe is, in some ways, analogous to the Antarctic ice sheet. Troughs and scarps carved into Planum Australe by erosional processes have exposed SPLD layers within it. In this image, the darkest area at the bottom of the image is the bottom of the scarp. Except for the dark material at the bottom of the slope, much of the changes in brightness in this image are due to the lighting angle, the direction from which the sun is illuminating the slope. Much like ice cores from Greenland and Antarctica and deep sea sediment cores, the icy-dusty layers of the SPLD may have preserved a record of recent Mars climate history. Understanding that record is a complex process and involves, among many other types of analyses, examining the differences and similarities in appearance between each layer and attempting to classify layer types. This image shows nice examples of different layer textures. But what is especially interesting about this image are the faults cutting through the layers. These faults appear as diagonal lines, on either side of which, the layering is offset. Note that the faults are not clean, single lines, but appear in long groups of short lines. What caused these faults is still under investigation, but, among other possibilities, they could be related to an earlier time when temperatures were higher and the ice was flowing at a much faster rate than it is today.
Troughs and Scarps in Planum Australe
This image, taken with the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera, shows distinct bands of alternating tone and brightness within the "Murray Formation" on Mars.
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This image shows distinct bands of alternating tone and brightness within the "Murray Formation" on Mars. A black arrow points to those bands, which cut across diagonally in this image.
Bands on the 'Murray Formation'
This color image from NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) shows bedrock layers of diverse colors and composition.
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This color image from NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) shows bedrock layers of diverse colors and composition.
Colorful Layers in Ariadnes Colles
This HiRISE image shows erosional features formed by seasonal frost near the south pole of Mars.
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This HiRISE image shows erosional features formed by seasonal frost near the south pole of Mars.
Erosion Features near the South Pole of Mars
NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity has been on the western rim of Endeavour Crater in Meridiani Planum for about two years.
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NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity has been on the western rim of Endeavour Crater in Meridiani Planum for about two years.
Color View From Orbit Showing Opportunity in 'Botany Bay' (Unannotated)
Mars's seasonal polar caps are composed primarily of carbon-dioxide frost.
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Mars's seasonal polar caps are composed primarily of carbon-dioxide frost.
Seasonal Processes-Omega Sublimation
This area at the base of Mount Sharp on Mars includes a pale outcrop, called "Pahrump Hills," that NASA's Curiosity Mars rover investigated from September 2014 to March 2015, and the "Artist's Driv...
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This area at the base of Mount Sharp on Mars includes a pale outcrop, called "Pahrump Hills," that NASA's Curiosity Mars rover investigated from September 2014 to March 2015, and the "Artist's Drive" route toward higher layers of the mountain.
Curiosity Heading Away from 'Pahrump Hills'
NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) keeps finding new impact sites on Mars. This one occurred within the dense secondary crater field of Corinto Crater. The new crater and its ejecta have dist...
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This is an image from NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter of a new impact site on Mars, within the dense secondary crater field of Corinto Crater.
A New Impact Crater
This HiRISE image covers the southwest portion of the terraces and floor of Holden Crater situated in southwest Margaritifer Terra.
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This HiRISE image covers the southwest portion of the terraces and floor of Holden Crater situated in southwest Margaritifer Terra. The HiRISE sub-frame shows the most clearly-evident image of a megabreccia on Mars. Breccia is a rock typically consisting of rock fragments of various sizes and shapes that have been broken, tumbled and cemented together in sudden geologic event (e.g., a landslide, a flashflood or even an impact-cratering event). If it were not for the dark sandy dunes dispersed through out the sub-image, this image could easily fool an expert into thinking that this image is actually a photograph of a hand sample of an impact breccia. The prefix "mega" implies that the breccia in the sub-image consists of clasts, or rock fragments, that are typically larger than a large house or a building. The rectangular megaclast near the center of the image is a colossal 50 x 25 meters (~150 X 75 feet). As mentioned in the transition image caption for Holden crater (TRA_000861_1530), the crater likely experienced extensive modification by running water, which is supported by observations of drainage and deposition into the crater from a large channel (Uzboi Valles) breaching Holden's southwest rim. While it is possible that the megabreccia formed from a catastrophic release of water into the crater, a more likely possibility is that it formed from the impact that created the approx. 150 km-in-diameter Holden crater. Popigai Crater, a terrestrial crater of half the size of Holden, possesses a similar occurrence of megabreccia with a similar range in megaclast size to the Holden crater example. An impact-generated megabreccia deposit, as observed in terrestrial craters, typically lies beneath the crater floor, so the exhumation of the megabreccia may be the result of down-cutting and erosion of water that once flowed through Uzboi Valles.
Holden Crater Megabreccia: A Telltale Sign of a Sudden and Violent Event

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