Nicholson Crater

Today's image shows a cross section of Nicholson Crater. The central peak of this crater is surrounded by a layered deposit that rises 3.5km (2 miles) above the crater floor. This central mound of material has undergone extensive wind erosion, with yardangs visible on the on most of the mound. These features are created by long term winds scouring a poor cemented surface material into linear ridges and valleys. The direction of the ridge/valley is aligned with the wind direction. The dominant wind direction in this region of the mound is along a north/south trend. However, other wind directions can occur within a localized region, as evidenced by the smaller yardangs near the north side of the mound. Located on the southern edge of Amazonis Planitia, Nicholson Crater is 102km (63 miles) in diameter.

Orbit Number: 85995 Latitude: 0.290091 Longitude: 195.593 Instrument: VIS Captured: 2021-05-04 03:15

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.