Candidate Mud Volcanoes in Utopia Planitia
NASA/JPL-Caltech/UArizona
Candidate Mud Volcanoes in Utopia Planitia
ESP_077023_2050  Science Theme: Hydrothermal Processes
Utopia Planitia, a vast plain in the Northern Hemisphere of Mars, has an interesting and complex history. One of the intriguing features is a field of mounds showing circular depressions at their summits. The fact that many of these “craters” are on top of mounds argues against them being craters created by impacts, as is common on Mars and other planetary bodies across the solar system.

There are many processes that can form such landforms, most notably hot lava. However, mud ejected from beneath the surface (through different geologic mechanisms) could also be a possibility. Being able to better understand how these features formed (aided by HiRISE stereo images) is crucial to our understanding of the geologic history of the region.

Written by: Mohamed Ramy El-Maarry  (4 April 2023)

This is a stereo pair with ESP_076891_2050.
 
Acquisition date
31 December 2022

Local Mars time
14:34

Latitude (centered)
24.747°

Longitude (East)
109.776°

Spacecraft altitude
285.2 km (177.2 miles)

Original image scale range
30.4 cm/pixel (with 1 x 1 binning) so objects ~91 cm across are resolved

Map projected scale
25 cm/pixel and North is up

Map projection
Equirectangular

Emission angle
21.0°

Phase angle
25.4°

Solar incidence angle
44°, with the Sun about 46° above the horizon

Solar longitude
2.8°, Northern Spring

For non-map projected images
North azimuth:  96°
Sub-solar azimuth:  337.6°
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   (662MB)

IRB color
map-projected   (328MB)

JP2 EXTRAS
Black and white
map-projected  (275MB)
non-map           (339MB)

IRB color
map projected  (88MB)
non-map           (253MB)

Merged IRB
map projected  (179MB)

Merged RGB
map-projected  (171MB)

RGB color
non map           (240MB)
ANAGLYPHS
Map-projected, reduced-resolution
Full resolution JP2 download
Anaglyph details page

BONUS
4K (TIFF)
8K (TIFF)
10K (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.