NASA’s MRO Shares Beautiful Image Of Wind-Battered Hills And Dunes On Mars

NASA recently shared a stunning image of a region on Mars that has been battered by harsh winds on the Red Planet. Due to its eroded features, this region is believed to be one of the oldest terrains on Mars.

The image shared by NASA features a region known as Arabia Terra. The photo was taken by the agency’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) on Nov. 29 using its HiRISE camera.

The mesmerizing photo shows a collection of sand dunes and hills of different sizes across a desert-like terrain. According to NASA, the region’s topography shows heavy signs of erosion caused by the harsh winds and dust storms on Mars.

“The wonders of time and erosion are on full display in this image of layered hills in Arabia Terra, Mars, as imaged by the HiRISE camera aboard NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter,” the agency said in a statement. “Along with the hills, we see dark dunes that the HiRISE team is monitoring for activity due to the wind.”

Compared to the other regions on Mars, the features of Arabia Terra appear to be more battered and eroded. This led many scientists to believe that it could be one of the first terrains to form on Mars.

Previous studies conducted on the region have tried to explain the unique topography of Arabia Terra. One of these studies indicated that some of the craters in the area are actually calderas that were formed by volcanic eruptions. The devastation caused by these natural disasters may have contributed to the battered and eroded features within the region.

In another study, a team of researchers proposed that Arabia Terra was once a flood plain during the early years of Mars. According to the researchers, flood streams may have flowed through the region during the time when the Red Planet was battered by storms.

“The inverted channels developed on extensive aggrading flood plains,” the researchers stated in their study. “As the inverted channels are both sourced in, and traverse across, Arabia Terra, their formation is inconsistent with discrete, localized sources of water, such as meltwater from highland ice sheets. Our results are instead more consistent with an early Mars that supported widespread precipitation and runoff.”