Branched Features on the Floor of Antoniadi Crater - HiRISE : ESP_012435_2015

The dark branched features in the floor of Antoniadi Crater look like giant ferns, or fern casts. However, these ferns would be several miles in size and are composed of rough rocky materials.

A more likely hypothesis is that this represents a channel network that now stands in inverted relief. The channels may have been lined or filled by indurated materials, making the channel fill more resistant to erosion by the wind than surrounding materials. After probably billions of years of wind erosion the resistant channels are now relatively high-standing. The material between the branched ridges has a fracture pattern and color similar to deposits elsewhere on Mars that are known to be rich in hydrated minerals such as clays.

The inverted channels have short, stubby branches characteristic of formation by groundwater sapping. Spring water seeps into the channels and undercuts overlying layers which collapse, so the channels grow headward. These images tell the story of an ancient wet environment on Mars, where life could have been possible. Ancient Martian life was most likely to consist of microorganisms rather than giant tree ferns.

Acquisition date
22 March 2009

Local Mars time
15:31

Latitude (centered)
21.356°

Longitude (East)
61.276°

Spacecraft altitude
282.0 km (175.2 miles)

Original image scale range
28.3 cm/pixel (with 1 x 1 binning) so objects ~85 cm across are resolved

Source data: www.uahirise.org/ESP_012435_2015

Taken on: September 3, 2021

Tags:

HiRISE

MRO

MARS

Red Planet

Planet 4

Martian Surface

Branched features

ESP

PSP « less

Sets appears in: • HiRISE Images

Groups appears in: • Space Exploration • NASA more » • Science Nerd Depot • Flickr Nature - NO B/W, People, Structures etc • Mars • Space And Weather • Mars Watch • Galaxies & Stars Group ( Planets, Moons & Comets too!) • Astro Art • SPACE LOVERS • Space art. • Flickr Crazy - Don't Get Cured, Stay Flickr Crazy! • Astronomy, Stars, Planets and Space • OUT OF THIS WORLD • "Unlimited Photos: No Rules" (NO AI, CGI or SL images) • Sol System • Riding with Robots on the High Frontier • One Word: WOW! • Solar system and planets • Space Postcards • Space The Final Frontier • Far-Out Outer Space • Planet Landscape • # # # EXOTIC IMAGE (ADM. INVITE) post 1, comment 1. • SPACE....THE ONLY FRONTIER! (Photo Edited Images) • VirtualAstro • Universe Today • Wonders of the Solar System • Astronomy and Space Science - For Explorers of All Ages • Space stuff • APOD Submissions • National Aeronautics and Space Administration • USGS Science in Action • !*ALL ARE WELCOME*! • !*Flickr All Stars*! • The Martian Fan Club • M A R S L A N D S C A P E S • Extraterrestrial Space. • still & leben ~ still & life,,,and much more • The Best Of Mars • EXPLORER PHOTOS FROM 2021 AND ALSO OF THE PAST, • PUBLIC AND PRIVATE SPACE AGENCIES OF THE WORLD AND INDIVIDUALS W « less

Stats: 4,862 views / 6 comments

go back

close tools panel

Badge creator

Use Flickriver Badge Creator to create a badge linking to your photos, your group or any other Flickriver view.

You can place your badge on your Flickr profile, Blog or Website.

Add to your iGoogle or Netvibes page

Flickriver widget for iGoogle or Netvibes can display almost any Flickriver view - most interesting today, by user, by group, by tag etc. Once added to your personalized homepage, just edit widget settings to select your desired view.

Clickr on one of the buttons below to install:

Embed on your Web site

To embed this view, Copy and Paste the following HTML code:

Black background (preview):

White background (preview):

Firefox and Chrome addons

Adds a 'Flickriver' button to your browser. While viewing any Flickr photos page, click on this button to open the same view on Flickriver.

Install in Firefox
Install in Chrome

Search plugin

Add 'Search on Flickriver' to your browser's search box. Works with Firefox and Internet Explorer. Install search plugin

"View on Flickriver" Greasemonkey script

A Greasemonkey script that adds Flickriver links to various Flickr photo pages - user photos, favorites, pools etc, allowing to quickly open the corresponding Flickriver view.

Also, allows quickly viewing any Flickr photo on black background in large size.

Install "View on Flickriver" script

Bookmarklet

While viewing any Flickr photos page, click on the bookmarklet to open the same view on Flickriver.

To install: drag and drop the following link to your Bookmarks toolbar.
IE users - add the link to your Favorites under the Links folder