NASA’s HiRISE Views Clinoforms in Melas Chasma

New Image from NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter

The layered deposits in Melas Chasma on Mars.

This newly released image from the high resolution imaging science experiment on NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter gives astronomers a view of the layered deposits in Melas Basin.

A group of steeply inclined light-toned layers is bounded above and below by unconformities (sudden or irregular changes from one deposit to another) that indicate a “break” where erosion of pre-existing layers was taking place at a higher rate than deposition of new materials.

The layered deposits in Melas Basin may have been deposited during the growth of a delta complex. This depositional sequence likely represents a period where materials were being deposited on the floor of a lake or running river.

This is a stereo pair with PSP_007878_1700.

The map is projected here at a scale of 25 centimeters (9.8 inches) per pixel. The original image scale is 28.9 centimeters (11.4 inches) per pixel (with 1 x 1 binning); objects on the order of 87 centimeters (34.2 inches) across are resolved. North is up.

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