This color image shows a portion of the southeast inner wall of Zunil, a geologically recent (less than about 10 million years old) well-preserved 10-km impact crater.

The color and albedo patterns indicate that a landslide occurred here very recently--too recently to have been re-covered by dust. The landslide could have been triggered by a Marsquake or a small impact event.

Monitoring Mars for changes such as this will help us to better understand active processes. The color image has North down, which also places downhill down and helps us to interprete the topography (1507x1409; 6 MB). However, we are in fact looking down from directly above the crater.
Written by: Alfred McEwen

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: Image: NASA/JPL/University of Arizona

For information about NASA and agency programs on the Web, visit: http://www.nasa.gov. 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. Lockheed Martin Space Systems is the prime contractor for the project and built the spacecraft. The HiRISE camera was built by Ball Aerospace and Technology Corporation and is operated by the University of Arizona. The image data were processed using the U.S. Geological Survey’s ISIS3 software.