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Mars Camera Shows New Details of Collapsed Sand-Filled Basins
posted: 03:40 pm ET
18 October 1999
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marsphotos_991018The uneven tumult of the "chaotic terrain" of Mars' equatorial latitudes is showcased in vivid detail in a new image from Mars Global Surveyor's orbiting camera. The image shows large low-lying basins filled with sand dunes that lie between bordering bluffs and crater-pocked highlands. The chaotic terrain was first noticed in images from Mariners 6 and 7 -- two spacecraft launched to Mars in 1969. The Mars Global Surveyor's images are the highest-resolution photos yet taken of the chaotic terrain. The geological processes that shaped the landscape are a subject of much speculation among planetary geologists.  The photo above details an area 1.9 miles (3 kilometers) across. Some scientists believe the basins were formed by a collapse of the surface after water or ice was removed from cavities underneath. The white box in the image below outlines the area detailed above. The larger area below is about 71 miles (115 kilometers) across. The images were produced by Malin Space Science Systems for NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. 
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