Schroeter Crater is an approximately 300 kilometer (185 mile) diameter crater near the equator that is highly degraded. The full image shows part of the west floor of the crater.

The floor is speckled with other craters, most of which are degraded; the largest entire crater in the scene (image above) has a sharp rim, indicating that it is relatively young. Although this crater is younger than most in the scene, it is filled with dunes, which tells us that it has been there long enough for the wind to blow material into it.

The bottom of the image covers the northeast rim of another crater. This crater looks like it was completely filled with material at one time and that this material has since been removed and sculpted by the wind. It contains dark dunes and piles of dark material, probably sand.
Written by: Kelly Kolb

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.