The Wrinkled Surface of Mars

The surface of Mars has been pulled apart in places and smashed together in other places. This image shows a ridge that formed when the ground was pushed together, forming a wrinkle.

These "wrinkle ridges" are observed across Mars and other bodies, such as the Moon and Earth, and serve as a record of ancient forces that shaped these planetary surfaces.

The map is projected here at a scale of 50 centimeters (19.7 inches) per pixel. (The original image scale is 53.1 centimeters [20.9 inches] per pixel [with 2 x 2 binning]; objects on the order of 159 centimeters [62.6 inches] across are resolved.) North is up.

The University of Arizona, in Tucson, operates HiRISE, which was built by Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp., in 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.