This image captures the western side of a relatively young “rampart” crater in the Tharsis region.

Rampart craters are surrounded by a fluidized ejecta blanket (an ejecta blanket is the material thrown out around a crater when the impact occurs, in this case resembling the whites of a fried egg, where the crater is the yolk). Researchers speculate that these may form when an object impacts ground that contains fluid (liquid or frozen) that is released upon impact. THEMIS images V06896002 and V10266002 provide context images for this side of the crater and show the rampart of the crater.

Within the crater we see evidence of landslides originating at the upper edges. These landslides have exposed individual rock layers as well as outcrops of stronger rock types which are more resistant to erosion.

Written by: Tahirih Motazedian   (26 February 2008)

This is a stereo pair with ESP_011572_1615 .

More info and image formats at http://hirise.lpl.arizona.edu/PSP_006588_1615

Image: NASA/JPL/University of Arizona