This image captures a portion of the extensive tributary ridge networks found within this unique crater near the highlands of the Hellas impact basin.

Early in its history, the highlands of Mars may have been covered by ice glaciers that flowed into low areas such as impact craters, leaving behind evidence of their advance and retreat. These ridges have been interpreted as inverted (upside-down) channel deposits derived from the melting of highland glaciers.

The fluvial (water) activity recorded here is different from the impact crater basins observed elsewhere that have been fed by external fluvial flows in the form of valley networks or isolated inlet valleys. This crater is instead a “closed-source drainage basin,” where fluvial activity appears to have both started and stopped within the confines of the crater floor itself.

ID: ESP_076432_1595
date: 15 November 2022
altitude: 257 km

https://uahirise.org/hipod/ESP_076432_1595
NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona
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