Martian and Venusian Landscapes

High-resolution images of Martian gullies, Venusian mountains, and eroded terrains, showcasing varied extraterrestrial geological features.

Martian Gullies

Martian Gullies

This Magellan full-resolution images show the northern part of the Akna Montes (mountains) of Venus.

Northeast Arabia Terra

Eroded, or 'etched' terrain dominates the field of view of this THEMIS visible image acquired over eastern Terra Meridiani.

Ganges Sedimentary Rocks

Hephaestus Troughs

This MOC image shows a group of gullies formed on the equator-facing wall of a north mid-latitude crater. Gullies such as these might have formed from the erosive forces of liquid water

This MOC image shows the termination (end) of a group of layers in the north polar region of Mars, where they have been buried by younger, smoother-surfaced material. The layers are the banded features at the right/lower right

Olympus Mons in Day

Inverted Channels

Valley near Cydonia

Lava flows south of Arsia Mons in Daedalia Planum transition from younger flows with elongated, sinuous morphologies to the northeast, to older, broader lobes and sheet flows to the southwest. This image is from NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter.

Modified Valleys

This observation from NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter shows an incredible diversity of ancient lava tubes and impact craters filled with sediment on the flank of Arsia Mons.

Ius Chasma Layers

Cerberus Flood Features

Margin of Lava Flow in Daedalia Planum

Frozen Frozen CO2

Apollinaris Patera Surfaces

This Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) image shows the margin of a lava flow on a cratered plain in the Athabasca Vallis region of Mars. Remarkably, the cratered plain in this scene is essentially free of bright, windblown ripples

Ice (probably frozen nitrogen) that appears to have accumulated on the uplands on the right side of this image from NASA' New Horizons, is draining from Pluto's mountains onto the informally named Sputnik Planum.

Northeast Isidis

Features in Argyre

Features in Aureum Chaos

his image was obtained by NASA's Dawn spacecraft on July 1, 2018 from an altitude of about 29 miles (46 kilometers). The center of this picture is located at about 20.8 degrees north latitude and 241.2 degrees east longitude.

MGS MOC Returns to Service Following Solar Conjunction Hiatus

Exhumed Ridge Pattern

A Tale of 3 Craters

Nirgal Vallis is one of the largest and longest valley networks on Mars as seen by NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter.

Kasei Valles is a valley system was likely carved by some combination of flowing water and lava. In some areas, erosion formed cliffs along the flow path resulting in water or lava falls as seen by NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter spacecraft.

River drainage patterns provide clues to the rock types and erosional processes involved in landscape evolution.

Wind Streaks on Daedalia Planum

Ridges in Mars' South Polar Region

Wind-Eroded Terrain in Tharsis

Small Secondary Craters

Tithonium Chasma's Sedimentary Rocks

Crommelin Crater #1

Infrared imaging from NASA's Mars Odyssey spacecraft shows signs of layering exposed at the surface in a region of Mars called Terra Meridiani.

Ascraeus Mons Pits

Ascraeus Depression

The northern lowlands of Mars in this location are stippled with mounds, such as those visible throughout this image. These lighter-toned circular mounds with bowl-shaped depressions are easy to spot against the darker-toned floor. Scientists think these landforms are similar to mud volcanoes that are also found here on Earth. Mud volcanoes form as gas and liquid-rich sediment interacts underground. Over time, this slurry of mud is brought to the surface and forms a rounded mound. Scientists are interested in studying mud volcanoes on Mars because the material forming the mound has the potential to be organic in nature and would give insight into possible microbial life below the surface.

Work of Wind on Pavonis Mons

Nirgal Vallis and its Windblown Dunes

Various researchers are often pre-occupied with the quest for flowing water on Mars. However, this image from NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO), shows one of the many examples from Mars where lava (when it was molten) behaved in a similar fashion to liquid water. The northern rim of a 30-kilometer diameter crater situated in the western part of the Tharsis volcanic province is shown. The image shows that a lava flow coming from the north-northeast surrounded the crater rim, and rose to such levels that it breached the crater rim at four locations to produce spectacular multi-level lava falls (one in the northwest and three in the north). These lava falls cascaded down the wall and terraces of the crater to produce a quasi-circular flow deposit. It seems that the flows were insufficient to fill or even cover the pre-existing deposits of the crater floor. This is evidenced by the darker-toned lavas that overlie the older, and possibly dustier, lighter-toned deposits on the crater

Layered Rocks in Crater

This image captured by NASA's 2001 Mars Odyssey spacecraft shows part of Siton Undae, one of the dune fields near the north polar cap.

Isidis Planitia

Apollinaris Patera Erosion

Tectonic, Volcanic and Fluvial Activity. This image shows two cross-cutting depressions that may have been formed by the collapse of weak terrain along pre-existing faults. These faults are associated with the release of volcanic material and/or liquid water. Sinuous channels are visible emanating from the large vent toward the northwest. Some of these channels transition between positive-relief and negative-relief, suggesting they were once filled with erosion-resistant material. Liquid water is known to produce similar features on Earth. https //photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA25701

Lycus Sulci Dust Avalanches

East Arabia Layers

Athabasca Streamlines

This VIS image is located on the South Polar Cap. A trough crosses the center of the image, showing the layered nature of the cap ice. This image was collected in early spring, and highlights the icy surface textures. Orbit Number 81750 Latitude -85.5564 Longitude 308.423 Instrument VIS Captured 2020-05-19 14 13

Melas Sedimentary Rocks

NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter spied this small 2 kilometer-wide crater when a meteoroid struck the ground just to the west and created a new, larger crater (not shown).

This image, taken by NASA's Dawn spacecraft, shows the surface of dwarf planet Ceres from an altitude of 915 miles (1,470 kilometers) around mid-latitudes. The unusual mountain Ahuna Mons is featured here.

This view from NASA's Dawn mission shows the floor of Ceres' Juling Crater. The crater floor shows evidence of the flow of ice and rock, similar to rock glaciers in Earth's polar regions. Dawn acquired the picture with its framing camera on Aug. 30, 2016.

Mars Pathfinder Landing Site and Surroundings

Olympus Lava Flows

Ascraeus Pits

Cydonia is a region of Mars containing several hills, which has attracted attention because one of the hills resembles a face

Western Candor Chasma - Layers Exposed near the Middle

8N 7W Crater

Sulci Gordii

Sediment History Preserved in Gale Crater Central Mound

. Icy Flows. The surface of Mars is littered with examples of glacier-like landforms. While surface ice deposits are mostly limited to the polar caps, patterns of slow, viscous flow abound in many non-polar regions of Mars. Streamlines that appear as linear ridges in the surface soils and rocky debris are often exposed on top of infilling deposits that coat crater and valley floors. We see such patterns on the surfaces of Earth's icy glaciers and debris-covered rock glaciers. As ice flows downhill, rock and soil are plucked from the surrounding landscape and ferried along the flowing ice surface and within the icy subsurface. While this process is gradual, taking perhaps thousands of years or longer, it creates a network of linear patterns that reveal the history of ice flow. Later and under warmer conditions, the ice may be lost through melting or sublimation. (Sublimation is the evaporation of ice directly from solid to gas without the presence of liquid.) Rock and minerals concentra

. Bahram Vallis. Today's VIS image shows a section of Bahram Vallis. This channel is located in northern Lunae Planum, south of Kasei Valles. Bharam Vallis drains from the higher elevations of Lunae Planum towards the Chryse Planitia basin. This channel is over 300km (186 miles) long. Orbit Number 94564 Latitude 20.5977 Longitude 302.359 Instrument VIS Captured 2023-04-09 17 00

Geological faulting has opened cracks in the Cerberus region that slice through flat plains and mesas alike. This image is part of an 'All Star' set marking the occasion of NASA's Mars Odyssey as the longest-working Mars spacecraft in history.

Landslide in Aureum Chaos

This is a 2001 Mars Odyssey THEMIS IR image of an unnamed channel in northwestern Terra Cimmeria.

Buried Craters

This area of Venus northeast of Ushas Mons measures 40 by 112 kilometers (25 by 70 miles) and shows evidence of possible explosive volcanism as seen by NASA's Magellan spacecraft.

High-Resolution South Polar Cap Mosaics

Crater and Wind Streak

This Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) image shows dust plumes created by gusting winds on a plain southwest of Argyre Planitia

This perspective view of Marcia crater on the giant asteroid Vesta shows the most spectacularly preserved example of 'pitted terrain,' an unexpected discovery in data returned by NASA's Dawn mission.

Secondary Field

This 2001 Mars Odyssey THEMIS daytime infrared image shows the dissection of the rim of Holden Crater by numerous channels. Darker materials in the image are cooler than the surrounding material.

This MOC image shows a small, dust-mantled volcano on the plains east of the giant martian volcano, Pavonis Mons

This image from NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter of craters near Nilokeras Scopulus shows two pits partially filled with lumpy material, probably trapped dust that blew in from the atmosphere.

Nighttime Wind Streaks

This daytime infrared image of Kaiser Crater shows warm dunes on the crater floor.

Exhumed Craters

Unparallel Lines Give Unparalleled Clues

Reull Vallis

THEMIS Images as Art #55

This Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) image shows gullies formed in the wall of a depression located on the floor of Rabe Crater west of the giant impact basin, Hellas Planitia

This image captured by NASA's 2001 Mars Odyssey spacecraft shows part of Tractus Catena, just one of many north/south trending tectonic graben located south of Alba Mons.

They look like bushes! That's what almost everyone says when they see the dark features found in pictures taken of sand dunes in the polar regions as they are beginning to defrost after a long, cold winter. It is hard to escape the fact that, at first glance, these images acquired by the Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) over both polar regions during the spring and summer seasons, do indeed resemble aerial photographs of sand dune fields on Earth -- complete with vegetation growing on and around them! Of course, this is not what the features are, as we describe below and in related picture captions. Still, don't they look like vegetation to you Shown here are two views of the same MGS MOC image. On the left is the full scene, on the right is an expanded view of a portion of the scene on the left. The bright, smooth surfaces that are dotted with occasional, nearly triangular dark spots are sand dunes covered by winter frost. The MGS MOC has been used over the past se

The two linear depressions in this image from NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter spacecraft form part of the Elysium Fossae complex, a group of troughs located in the Elysium quadrangle of Mars.

Alba Patera Collapse Pits

Giant Polygon Troughs, Elysium Planitia

Melas Chasma is the widest segment of the Valles Marineris canyon, and is an area where NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter has detected the presence of sulfates.

Olympica Fossae

NASA's Magellan synthetic aperture radar (SAR) imaged this unique 'triplet crater,' or 'crater field' during orbits 418-421 on Sept. 21, 1990. The three craters appear to have relatively steep walls.

Marte Vallis

In the center of this 300-mile (470-kilometer) wide image of Pluto from NASA's New Horizons spacecraft is a large region of jumbled, broken terrain on the northwestern edge of the vast, icy plain informally called Sputnik Planum, to the right.

Layered Yardangs in Henry Crater

The interplay of bright and dark material at the rim of Marcia crater on Vesta is visible in this image mosaic taken by NASA's Dawn spacecraft. The bright and dark material appear to be exposed from weathering.

A HiRISE observation in 2010 covered a new impact crater that formed after December 2007 and before August 2010, based on Context Camera images. HiRISE has been re-imaging these sites to see how rapidly the dark ejecta and blast zone markings disappear as dust is deposited or redistributed.

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