Boulder Strewn Plain in Northern Utopia Planitia
Boulders up to several meters in size densely coat the landscape. In some areas only smaller rocks less than a meter across dominate the surface, while a couple hundred meters away may be a somewhat circular “blotch” of larger boulders. Often these blotches of boulders coincide >with a faint circular ridge, the remnant of an impact crater now reduced by erosion and infilling to a a mere hint of a crater rim. The abundant boulders excavated by the impact, however, remain scattered over the surface to mark the past event.
Image cutout is less than 5 km (3 mi) across and the spacecraft altitude was 310 km (192 mi). For full observation details including images with scale bars, visit the source link.
NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona
Boulder Strewn Plain in Northern Utopia Planitia
Boulders up to several meters in size densely coat the landscape. In some areas only smaller rocks less than a meter across dominate the surface, while a couple hundred meters away may be a somewhat circular “blotch” of larger boulders. Often these blotches of boulders coincide >with a faint circular ridge, the remnant of an impact crater now reduced by erosion and infilling to a a mere hint of a crater rim. The abundant boulders excavated by the impact, however, remain scattered over the surface to mark the past event.
Image cutout is less than 5 km (3 mi) across and the spacecraft altitude was 310 km (192 mi). For full observation details including images with scale bars, visit the source link.
NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona