Image Credit: NASA/JPL/ASU

Context image credit: NASA/JPL/MOLA
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In the high northern latitudes NW of Alba Patera, a smooth mantle of material that covers the landscape appears chipped away from the rim of a large crater. The prominent scarp that has formed from the retreat of the mantle lacks the rounded appearance of other ice-rich mantles found in the mid-latitudes. The nature of this mantling layer therefore is more enigmatic.