Meanders in Ridge Form in the Zephyria Region
NASA/JPL-Caltech/UArizona
Meanders in Ridge Form in the Zephyria Region
ESP_024695_1745  Science Theme: Fluvial Processes
In this image, an ancient sinuous meandering river system is surrounded by features called “yardangs.” The yardangs are the ridge-like landforms that align approximately north-south. These features were created as the wind scoured and eroded the bedrock.

The raised relief of the meandering river suggests inverted topography, likely due to lithification and cementation of the riverbed sediment. The cemented channel deposits were resistant, and thus less susceptible to erosion over time. However, the area surrounding the riverbed suggests that this area was a floodplain of weaker lithology that was subsequently eroded and shaped to the yardangs.

The main meandering inverted riverbed within the image has a length of about 13 kilometers. The elevation of the channel at the top of the image is on the order of 113 meters higher than the bottom, based on Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter (MOLA) data. This elevation difference and the increase in sinuosity of the channel shape in the southerly direction implies that the flow of the ancient river may have been heading south-southwest.

Written by: Austin S. Guynn and Marjorie A. Chan (narration: Tre Gibbs)  (4 November 2015)

This is a stereo pair with ESP_025407_1745.
 
Acquisition date
02 November 2011

Local Mars time
14:36

Latitude (centered)
-5.400°

Longitude (East)
151.518°

Spacecraft altitude
268.1 km (166.6 miles)

Original image scale range
27.1 cm/pixel (with 1 x 1 binning) so objects ~81 cm across are resolved

Map projected scale
25 cm/pixel and North is up

Map projection
Equirectangular

Emission angle
8.1°

Phase angle
35.0°

Solar incidence angle
42°, with the Sun about 48° above the horizon

Solar longitude
24.1°, Northern Spring

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North azimuth:  97°
Sub-solar azimuth:  27.1°
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POSTSCRIPT
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. The HiRISE camera was built by Ball Aerospace and Technology Corporation and is operated by the University of Arizona.