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Scrambled Hellas

Sept. 30, 2006
This image from NASA's Mars Global Surveyor shows an example of the extremely odd, seemingly scrambled layered rocks exposed by erosion near the deepest part of the deepest basin on Mars, Hellas.

30 September 2006
This Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) image shows an example of the extremely odd, seemingly scrambled layered rocks exposed by erosion near the deepest part of the deepest basin on Mars, Hellas. This pattern of eroded, and perhaps deformed layers was once exposed to the martian surface, then buried, and more recently exposed again. The story behind these layers is not really understood; some members of the MOC team have -- for nearly 9 years now -- taken to calling these features, "taffy-pull terrain."

Location near: 43.1°S, 307.3°W
Image width: ~3 km (~1.9 mi)
Illumination from: upper left
Season: Southern Spring

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