Dark Light
The Utopia Planitia region contains many distinctive landscapes.

The bumpy and pitted ground in this image may have formed through the eruption of either lava or mud onto the surface from deep underground. 

Mud volcanoes on Earth provide oases for life. If these features also formed through the eruption of mud, these landforms may hold clues to possible life-supporting oases in Mars’ distant past. 


Image: NASA/JPL/University of Arizona https://www.uahirise.org/hipod/ESP_070298_2145
Related Posts

Layers in Blocks

The objective of this observation is to examine layers exposed in small blocks and in a butte in eastern Arabia Terra, in the Northern Hemisphere of Mars.

Faulting Mars

This region of Xanthe Terra has mostly been contracted due to thrust faulting, but this local region shows…
Mound in Chryse Planitia

A Lonely Mound in Chryse Planitia

A simple proposition: to compare and contrast this pitted mound that is similar in appearance to those in Utopia Planitia, but rarely observed here in Chryse Planitia.