Particle.news
Download on the App Store

New Mars Express Images Reveal Vast Wind-Carved Ridges at Eumenides Dorsum

The new imagery refines the local timeline by tying yardangs to platy-flow lava alongside nearby ejecta.

Overview

  • Yardangs align consistently toward the southeast, recording prevailing winds that carved grooves tens of kilometers long.
  • The scene lies at the northern end of Eumenides Dorsum within the dust-rich Medusae Fossae Formation east of the Tharsis volcanic rise.
  • Elongated ridges overlie and border a platy-flow lava crust, indicating wind erosion occurred after the lava was emplaced and cooled.
  • A relatively fresh crater shows a broad, wavy-edged ejecta blanket that interacts with the surrounding wind-sculpted terrain.
  • Mars Express captured the view with the HRSC, with data processed by DLR and image products produced by Freie Universität Berlin, covering an area nearly the size of Belgium.