Lucus Planum Yardangs

Today's VIS image is located on Lucus Planum. The surface in this image has been eroded by the wind to form features called yardangs. Yardangs form in a poorly cemented material where the wind cuts linear valleys, removing some of the material and leaving parallel ridges behind. The direction of the ridge/valley is aligned with the wind direction. The dominant wind direction in this region is along a northeast/southwest trend; however, other wind directions can occur within a localized region. There is a circular feature in the lower left side of the image. This is likely the remains of a crater. Meteor impacts melt the surface and subsurface, creating a harder material then the surrounding surfaces. The remnant of the crater are still visible due to being a more resistant material.

Orbit Number: 81740 Latitude: -1.61604 Longitude: 187.227 Instrument: VIS Captured: 2020-05-18 18:55

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.