Vertical plan view of Becquerel Crater
Vertical plan view of Becquerel Crater
Becquerel Crater, to the right in the centre of the image, is 167 kilometres in diameter. To the southwest of Becquerel (north is to the right in the image) is a second crater, with a heavily eroded rim. Striking features formed by the erosion and deposition of material by the wind, such as an accumulation of bright layers of sulphurous sediments are visible in Becquerel Crater. The dark areas consist of basaltic sands. These sands appear blue-black in colour due to an increase in the contrast of the camera's colour channels; in reality, they are grey-black. It is probable that they originate from volcanic ashes. They form striking dune fields in many places on Mars.
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.