This image shows a landslide along the margin of a small mesa in the Xanthe Terra region of Mars.

This particular landslide has many blocks and boulders on the surface. It is likely these large pieces of the mesa wall rock rafted downslope when the landslide occurred and not jumbled and pulverized into smaller sizes. This observation gives some insight into the possible physics involved in downslope transport of rock materials.

Landslides and other mass wasting features are also important in the overall study of Mars as they give some indication of the stability of rock materials.

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.