Image Credit: NASA/JPL/ASU

Context image credit: NASA/JPL/MOLA
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Detailed information on this image is available at the THEMIS Data Releases website.

 

Please see the THEMIS Data Citation Note for details on crediting THEMIS images.

 

This image shows a portion of Maunder Crater. There are a number of interesting features in this image. The lower left portion of the image shows a series of barchan dunes that are traveling from right to left. The sand does not always form dunes as can be seen in the dark and diffuse areas surrounding the dune field. The other interesting item in this image are the gullies that can be seen streaming down from just beneath a number of sharp ridgelines in the upper portion of the image. These gullies were first seen by the MOC camera on the MGS spacecraft and it is though that they formed by groundwater leaking out of the rock layers on the walls of craters. The water runs down the slope and forms the fluvial features seen in the image. Other researchers think that these features could be formed by other fluids, such as CO2. These features are typically seen on south facing slopes in the southern hemisphere, though this image has gullies on north facing slopes as well.