Rafted Rock
NASA/JPL-Caltech/UArizona
Rafted Rock
ESP_046530_2020  Science Theme: Tectonic Processes
This area of Amazonis Planitia to the west of the large volcano Olympus Mons was once flooded with lava. A huge eruption flowed out across the relatively flat landscape. Sometimes called “flood basalt,” the lava surface quickly cooled and formed a thin crust of solidified rock that was pushed along with the flowing hot liquid rock. Hills and mounds that pre-dated the flooding eruption became surrounded, forming obstructions to the relentless march of lava.

In this image, these obstructions appeared to have poked up and sliced through the lava crust as the molten rock and crust moved together from west to east, over and past the stationary mounds. The result is a series of parallel grooves or channels with the obstructing mound remaining at the western end as the flow came to rest. From such images scientists can reconstruct the direction of the lava flow, potentially tracing it back to the source vent.

Written by: Michael Mellon  (9 November 2016)
 
Acquisition date
30 June 2016

Local Mars time
15:21

Latitude (centered)
21.606°

Longitude (East)
203.728°

Spacecraft altitude
287.1 km (178.4 miles)

Original image scale range
57.5 cm/pixel (with 2 x 2 binning) so objects ~172 cm across are resolved

Map projected scale
50 cm/pixel and North is up

Map projection
Equirectangular

Emission angle
1.2°

Phase angle
52.0°

Solar incidence angle
53°, with the Sun about 37° above the horizon

Solar longitude
177.4°, Northern Summer

For non-map projected images
North azimuth:  97°
Sub-solar azimuth:  350.6°
JPEG
Black and white
map projected  non-map

IRB color
map projected  non-map

Merged IRB
map projected

Merged RGB
map projected

RGB color
non-map projected

JP2
Black and white
map-projected   (129MB)

IRB color
map-projected   (70MB)

JP2 EXTRAS
Black and white
map-projected  (58MB)
non-map           (64MB)

IRB color
map projected  (19MB)
non-map           (65MB)

Merged IRB
map projected  (129MB)

Merged RGB
map-projected  (120MB)

RGB color
non map           (63MB)
BONUS
4K (TIFF)
8K (TIFF)

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
B&W label
Color label
Merged IRB label
Merged RGB label
EDR products
HiView

NB
IRB: infrared-red-blue
RGB: red-green-blue
About color products (PDF)

Black & white is 5 km across; enhanced color about 1 km
For scale, use JPEG/JP2 black & white map-projected images

USAGE POLICY
All of the images produced by HiRISE and accessible on this site are within the public domain: there are no restrictions on their usage by anyone in the public, including news or science organizations. We do ask for a credit line where possible:
NASA/JPL-Caltech/UArizona

POSTSCRIPT
NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, Calif., manages the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate, Washington. The HiRISE camera was built by Ball Aerospace and Technology Corporation and is operated by the University of Arizona.