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Linear Ridges

Jan. 31, 2011
Linear ridges are located in the topographic lows just north of Meridiani Planum in this image from NASA's Mars Odyssey.

Linear ridges are located in the topographic lows in this image located just north of Meridiani Planum. The ridges are likely caused by material that filled tectonic fractures which is more resistant to erosion than the surrounding materials. When the less resistant material is removed the ridges remain to mark the location of former tectonic fractures.

Orbit Number: 39885 Latitude: 11.8474 Longitude: 0.701863 Instrument: VIS Captured: 2010-12-11 11:32

Please see the THEMIS Data Citation Note for details on crediting THEMIS images.

NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory manages the 2001 Mars Odyssey mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS) was developed by Arizona State University, Tempe, in collaboration with Raytheon Santa Barbara Remote Sensing. The THEMIS investigation is led by Dr. Philip Christensen at Arizona State University. Lockheed Martin Astronautics, Denver, is the prime contractor for the Odyssey project, and developed and built the orbiter. Mission operations are conducted jointly from Lockheed Martin and from JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena.

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