This observation shows wrinkle ridges in Hesperia Planum. Hesperia Planum encompasses a region of over two million square kilometers (over 770,000 square miles) in the southern highlands of Mars. It is located northwest of the Hellas basin and adjacent to Tyrrhena Patera and contains abundant orthogonal and intersecting wrinkle ridges.

Wrinkle ridges are linear to arcuate positive relief features and are often characterized by a broad arch topped with a crenulated ridge. These features have been identified on many planets such as the Moon, Mars, Mercury, and Venus. On Mars, they are many tens to hundreds of kilometers long, tens of kilometers wide, and have a relief of a few hundred meters. They commonly have asymmetrical cross sectional profiles and an offset in elevation on either side of the ridge.

Wrinkle ridges are most commonly believed to form from horizontal compression or shortening of the crust due to faulting and are often found in volcanic plains.
Written by: Maria Banks

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.