Tag Archives: sand

THEMIS: Pasteur Crater in false color

Posted on February 20, 2019 by rburnham

THEMIS Image of the Day, February 20, 2019. Today’s image shows part of the floor of Pasteur Crater. The deposit in the southwest part of the floor is a fill deposit that is undergoing erosion. Small sand dunes are found … Continue reading →

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THEMIS: High-latitude dune field

Posted on February 14, 2019 by rburnham

THEMIS Image of the Day, February 14, 2019. Today’s VIS image shows a dune field on a crater floor in Terra Cimmeria. Dunes at high latitudes – near the polar caps – are affected by seasonal frost and ice. The … Continue reading →

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THEMIS: Sand sheet in Matara Crater

Posted on February 13, 2019 by rburnham

THEMIS Image of the Day, February 13, 2019. Today’s VIS image shows the sand deposit on the floor of Matara Crater. The deposit is thick enough to hide the underlying crater floor creating a sheet of sand. Upon this sheet … Continue reading →

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THEMIS: Dunes and dust devil tracks in Terra Cimmeria

Posted on January 30, 2019 by rburnham

THEMIS Image of the Day, January 30, 2019. This unnamed crater in Terra Cimmeria has both a sand sheet with dune forms and a multitude of dust devil tracks. The linear and scalloped dark marks are created by dust devils … Continue reading →

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THEMIS: Active dune field in Noachis

Posted on December 13, 2018 by rburnham

THEMIS Image of the Day, December 13, 2018. Today’s VIS image shows sand dunes on the floor of an unnamed crater in Noachis Terra. These dunes are likely active because they are dark, indicating that they move often enough to … Continue reading →

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Seeing Mars in a grain of sand

Posted on October 24, 2018 by rburnham

[Ed. note: The following is a guide to two recent special issues of the Journal of Geophysical Research; both collect papers reporting on studies of the Bagnold Dunes in Gale Crater. The guide complements the MSL report posted earlier here.] … Continue reading →

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HiRISE: Summit dunes and their sand sources

Posted on October 9, 2018 by rburnham

The ultimate origin of the sediment that forms Martian dunes has long been debated. While sand dunes on Earth are primarily sourced by quartz-bearing components of granitic continental crust, it’s often suggested that sand on Mars derives from eroded volcanic … Continue reading →

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THEMIS: North polar dunes meet Escorial Crater

Posted on September 25, 2018 by rburnham

THEMIS Image of the Day, September 25, 2018. At the bottom of this image is Escorial Crater. The dune field to the north are called Hyperboreae Undae. The subtle blue and yellow arcs over the crater are clouds. The THEMIS … Continue reading →

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Bagnold Dunes sand movement observed by Curiosity

Posted on August 8, 2018 by rburnham

[Editor’s note: From a paper by Mariah Baker and nine co-authors recently published in Geophysical Research Letters.] The Bagnold Dunes in Southern Summer: Active Sediment Transport on Mars Observed by the Curiosity Rover •  Curiosity’s imaging campaigns in the Bagnold … Continue reading →

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THEMIS: Dunes of Moreux Crater

Posted on July 31, 2018 by rburnham

THEMIS Image of the Day, July 31, 2018. Today’s VIS image shows part of the floor of Moreux Crater. Sand dunes are found in this region of the crater floor. Moreux Crater is located on the northern margin of Terra … Continue reading →

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