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Filled and Exhumed Crater

Oct. 6, 2004
NASA's Mars Global Surveyor shows an exhumed meteor impact crater in eastern Sinus Meridiani on Mars. Layered sedimentary rocks are seen within the crater and on the terrain outside the crater.

6 October 2004

This picture is a mosaic of three Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) images (E14-01679, M21-00388, M10-02183) and a lower resolution Mars Odyssey THEMIS VIS image (V09499005), showing details in an exhumed meteor impact crater in eastern Sinus Meridiani. Layered sedimentary rocks are seen within the crater and on the terrain outside the crater. This crater was once completely filled and buried within the martian bedrock. It was most likely encased in rock that is older than the strata being explored by the Mars Exploration Rover (MER-B), Opportunity, several hundred kilometers west of this area. Erosion has brought the old crater back to the surface of Mars. This landform is located near 0.7°N, 352.7°W. The 1 km scale bar is about 0.62 miles long. Sunlight illuminates the images from the left.

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