Fluidized crater ejecta

Scaled Image

Image Credit: NASA/JPL/ASU

About this image

The ejecta blanket of this crater does not resemble the blocky, discontinuous ejecta associated with most fresh craters on Mars. Rather, the continuous lobes of material seen around this crater are evidence that the crater ejecta were fluidized upon impact of the meteor that formed this crater. Impact ejecta become fluidized when a meteor strikes a surface that has a considerable volatile content. The volatiles mixed with the ejecta form a flow of material that moves outward from the crater and produces the morphology seen in this THEMIS visible image.

Please see the THEMIS Data Citation Note for details on crediting THEMIS images. 

Context

Image ID: 
V03072003 (View data in Mars Image Explorer)
39.0853
325.801
3072
2002-08-24 05:05
Thu, 2002-09-05
VIS
1024 pixels (19 km)
1728 pixels (32 km)
0.018899 km/pixel
0.019142 km/pixel

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