Mars Mapping: Gullies On The Northern Crater Slope In Terra Sirenum

This approximately 60-kilometer diameter crater is located in Terra Sirenum in the Southern Highlands of Mars. The crater is gullied on its north, west and southwest slopes and numerous deposits are found in its interior.

This HiRISE image shows gullies on the crater’s interior northern slope. These gullies start at or below the crater rim and are relatively large, with broad source alcoves and inner channels that continue down onto the gullies’ aprons. These inner channels may provide evidence that water activity eroded into the surface and transported sediment downward and out onto the gully aprons.

The aprons end in sinuous ridges that demarcate the extent of the aprons on the crater floor. The crater floor has a stippled surface texture beyond the ridges suggesting ice may have sublimated from the near surface. One possible origin for the sinuous ridges is that they may mark the extent of moraines, which are masses of rock and sediment that are deposited by a glacier.

ID: ESP_085301_1360
date: 6 October 2024
altitude: 251 km

https://uahirise.org/hipod/ESP_085301_1360
NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona
Astrobiology,