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An Unusual Mound

March 26, 2014
With its cracked, blistery appearance, this mound near the center of a very large, over 5-kilometer diameter mid-latitude crater poses an interesting question: how did this form? This image is from NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter.

With its cracked, blistery appearance, this mound near the center of a very large, over 5-kilometer diameter mid-latitude crater poses an interesting question: how did this form?

More importantly, what is the relationship between the mound and the surrounding, viscous features? Did those flow features play a role in forming the mound? Can that material help explain the cracked surface of the mound?

HiRISE is one of six instruments on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. The University of Arizona, Tucson, operates HiRISE, which was built by Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp., Boulder, Colo. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Project for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington.

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