Utopia Planitia, a large lava plain in the northern hemisphere of Mars, has a diameter of roughly 3,300 km (2,051 miles) — just under twice the north-south size of Earth’s Sahara Desert.
This image shows Utopia Planitia, a plain that fills one of three major basins in the northern hemisphere of Mars. Image credit: ESA / DLR / FU Berlin / CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO.
The new image, captured by the High Resolution Stereo Camera (HRSC) on ESA’s Mars Express spacecraft, shows a slice of Utopia Planitia, the plain that fills this ancient basin.
This plain is thought to have formed as Utopia Planitia was filled by a mix of sediments, lavas and volatile substances, all transported across the Martian surface by water, wind or other processes.
“Utopia Planitia is an intriguing and ice-rich region; ice has been spotted lying both at and just below the surface, and at greater depths,” ESA researchers said.
“Visible to the top and bottom of the scene are large, smooth patches of surface known as ‘mantled deposits’.”
“These are thick layers of ice- and dust-rich material that have smoothed the surface and were likely deposited as snow back when Mars’ rotational axis was much more tilted than it is today.”
“Moving back towards image center, the two largest impact craters visible here are surrounded by double-layered mounds of material.”
“A similarly layered appearance is also visible in the deposits that have built up within the craters themselves, and in the craters’ thick rims.”
The second-largest crater in the HRSC image showcases a texture known as brain terrain, where material has become deformed and warped in a concentric pattern that resembles the complex patterns and ridges found on the surface of the human brain.
“Brain terrain is associated with the icy material found near the boundary between Mars’ northern plains and its southern highlands, a ‘dichotomy’ located to the south/south-west (top right) of this scene,” the scientists said.
“Just below the brain-textured crater is an especially dark-colored region, created as the ice-rich ground contracted and cracked at low temperatures.”
“This formed polygonal patterns and fractures that subsequently captured dark dust blown across Mars by wind, leading to the dark appearance seen here.”
“Additionally, scalloped depressions are omnipresent throughout this image. These have circular to elliptical shapes, depths of several tens of meters, and sizes varying from tens to thousands of meters across.”
“These features are the result of ground ice either melting or turning to gas, which then causes the surface to weaken and collapse. Upon closer look, layered mantled deposits can also be seen in and around these scalloped depressions.”
