Pedestal Crater

This VIS image is located in Amazonis Planitia. Amazonis Planitia is host to many pedestal craters, which indicate the region has had significant erosion. A pedestal crater is one where the crater and inner ejecta are above the level of the surrounding plains. Impact events alter the surface by the heat and pressure of the actual impact, and the resultant crater and ejecta are often stronger than the surrounding unaltered surface. To form a pedestal crater the surrounding plains are eroded away, isolating the crater materials to form a platform above the plain surface.

Orbit Number: 81203 Latitude: 12.4957 Longitude: 197.378 Instrument: VIS Captured: 2020-04-04 13:48

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.