Tag Archives: mass wasting

HiRISE: Gullies on Gorgonum Chaos mesas

Posted on April 15, 2019 by rburnham

Gullies on Gorgonum Chaos mesas. This observation shows part of Gorgonum Chaos, a large cluster of chaotic terrain found in the Southern Hemisphere. Many regions of chaotic terrain are found at the head of large outflow channels that were scoured … Continue reading →

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HiRISE: Bouncing boulders

Posted on April 8, 2019 by rburnham

Most debris on crater walls slides straight downhill. In this HiRISE image we see examples of boulders that have bounced downhill, not necessarily vertically. A prominent example looks like a dotted line from the top of the crater wall where … Continue reading →

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THEMIS: Melas Chasma landslide debris

Posted on April 3, 2019 by rburnham

THEMIS Image of the Day, April 3, 2019. This false-color image is located within Melas Chasma. The lobate forms at the bottom of the image are the remnants of landslides that crashed from the top of the cliff sides to … Continue reading →

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HiRISE: Complex gullies in a crater

Posted on March 21, 2019 by rburnham

Most gullies in the southern mid-latitudes are on south-facing slopes, which are the coldest and have the most frost in the winter. However, some occur on other slopes. This image shows large gullies on both the pole- and equator-facing slopes. … Continue reading →

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HiRISE: Fan, meet layered deposit

Posted on March 20, 2019 by rburnham

Fan, meet layered deposit. This is a gorgeous fan reaching out into deposits in east Candor Chasma. Did landslides deform the layered material? HiRISE Picture of the Day archive [More at links]

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HiRISE: An Olympus Mons landslide

Posted on February 12, 2019 by rburnham

An Olympus Mons landslide. Olympus Mons is too large for HiRISE to capture in one image, but we can get very detailed closeups of parts of it. Here, we see a slope streak, possibly caused by a boulder rolling downhill … Continue reading →

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HiRISE: Multi-elevation gullies

Posted on January 23, 2019 by rburnham

Gullies probably formed along the bouldery layers in the upper slopes of this unnamed crater within the last few million years. Gullies eroded these crater slopes and transported sediment downslope forming debris aprons multiple times. These older apron surfaces were … Continue reading →

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THEMIS: Moving downhill

Posted on January 18, 2019 by rburnham

THEMIS Image of the Day, January 18, 2019. This VIS image shows an isolated mountain east of Hellas Planitia. Erosion is moving material down hill towards the lower elevations. The linear features on the hill debris indicate that volatiles such … Continue reading →

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THEMIS: Maunder Crater’s gullies and landslides

Posted on January 8, 2019 by rburnham

THEMIS Image of the Day, January 8, 2019. Today’s VIS image shows part of the eastern side of Maunder Crater. This crater has a unique form, with a large amount of fill on the eastern half of the crater floor, … Continue reading →

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HiRISE: Chryse Chaos

Posted on December 18, 2018 by rburnham

Chryse Chaos. In planetary nomenclature, the term chaos means “distinctive area of broken terrain.” The general morphology of chaos is steep-sided mesas in close proximity. The interconnected channel forms erode, and mesas are created by erosion of the bounding channels. Beautiful … Continue reading →

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