Colour plan view of part of Nereidum Montes
Colour plan view of part of Nereidum Montes
This colour plan view was created using the nadir channel, which is directed vertically down onto the Martian surface, and the colour channels of the High Resolution Stereo Camera (HRSC) on board ESA's Mars Express spacecraft; the resolution is 23 metres per pixel. Nereidum Montes is located just inside the main ring of Argyre Planitia and forms part of the mountainous northern rim. Similar to the Alps, this mountainous range stretches in an arc over 1100 kilometres, parallel to the edge of the basin, with individual mountains of three to four thousand metres in height. The image shows a variety of landscape features with differing origins; some are caused by wind erosion, others by the movements of glaciers over the surface of Mars. A striking network of small, dendritic valleys in the northern (right) third of the vertical plan view image is evidence that water once flowed from the rim of Argyre, across the surface and into the basin. This originated either from rainfall in the early period of Mars’ history, or from glacial meltwater.
Copyright note:
As a joint undertaking by DLR, ESA and FU Berlin, the Mars Express HRSC images are published under a Creative Commons licence since December 2014: ESA/DLR/FU Berlin, CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO. This licence will also apply to all HRSC images released to date.