Mars Global Surveyor
Mars Orbiter Camera
Gullies and Layers in Crater Wall in Newton
MGS MOC Release No. MOC2-309, 18 April 2002
This dramatic view of gullies emergent from layered outcrops occurs on
the wall of a crater within the much larger impact basin,
Newton. Newton Crater and its surrounding terrain exhibit many
examples of gullies on the walls of craters and troughs. The gullies
exhibit meandering channels with fan-shaped aprons of debris located
downslope. The gullies are considered to have been formed by
erosion--both from a fluid (such as water) running downslope, and by
slumping and landsliding processes driven by the force of gravity.
This picture was obtained by the Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars
Orbiter Camera (MOC) in March 2001; it is illuminated from the upper
left and covers an area 3 km (1.9 mi) across.
Image Credit: NASA/JPL/Malin Space Science Systems
Malin Space Science Systems and the California Institute of
Technology built the MOC using spare hardware from the Mars Observer
mission. MSSS operates the camera from its facilities in San Diego,
CA. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory's Mars Surveyor Operations Project
operates the Mars Global Surveyor spacecraft with its industrial
partner, Lockheed Martin Astronautics, from facilities in Pasadena, CA
and Denver, CO.
To MSSS Home Page
