Wednesday, January 13, 2010

Avalanche On Mars

imageHere are two photos of sand dunes on Mars. In the lower one, you can see a landslide as it happens. (The article calls it an avalanche which might be the right word for it; it’s certainly cooler to have an avalanche.)

It’s Mars, a dune field in the far north; at latitude 83.5° to be precise, less than 400 km (240 miles) from the north pole. The eternal Martian wind blows the heavy sand into dunes, and you can see the hummocks and ripples from this across the image. The sand on Mars is from basalt, which is a darkish gray color. The red comes from much smaller dust particles which settle everywhere.”

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