This image shows a portion of the south polar layered deposits near the base. Illumination is from the lower right, and the scene width is 6 kilometers (approximately 3.7 miles).

The south polar layered deposits are an accumulation of layers of mostly water ice and dust, similar in some ways to the ice caps in Greenland and Antarctica. Often, layers near the base of terrestrial ice caps are deformed because of ice flow and because of sliding of the ice on the underlying surface. On Mars, the polar layered deposits are likely frozen to the underlying materials, and thus do not slide. It is also likely too cold for the ice to flow very much.

These basal layers of the south polar layered deposits do show some interesting wavy patterns that may be due either to simple erosion or to some kind of flow and folding, possibly having occurred in the distant past. In the lower right hand corner some layers appear to be truncated against others, possibly indicating what is called an "unconformity," formed when layers are eroded and then new layers are deposited on top.
Written by: Kathryn Fishbaugh

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.