JavaScript is required
JPL Logo
Image

Dark Materials on Olympus Mons

Jan. 23, 2018
This image from NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter shows blocks of layered terrain within the Olympus Mons aureole. The aureole is a giant apron of chaotic material around the volcano.
Context Image

This image from NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) shows blocks of layered terrain within the Olympus Mons aureole. The aureole is a giant apron of chaotic material around the volcano, perhaps formed by enormous landslides off the flanks of the giant volcano.

These blocks of layered material have been eroded by the wind into the scenic landscape we see here.

The map is projected here at a scale of 25 centimeters (9.8 inches) per pixel. [The original image scale is 28.3 centimeters (11.1 inches) per pixel (with 1 x 1 binning); objects on the order of 85 centimeters (33.5 inches) across are resolved.] North is up.

This is a stereo pair with ESP_013049_1980.

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

Keep Exploring