Public domain
Wind Carved Rock
From the collection of NASA Image and Video Library. Free to download, adapt and use — no permission needed.
About this work
The distinctively fluted surface and elongated hills in this image in Medusae Fossae are caused by wind erosion of a soft fine-grained rock. Called yardangs, these features are aligned with the prevailing wind direction. This wind direction would have dominated for a very long time to carve these large-scale features into the exposed rock we see today. Yardangs not only reveal the strength and direction of historic winds, but also reveal something of the host rock itself.
NASA Image and Video Library’s own descriptionCredit lineWind Carved Rock. NASA/JPL, 2016-10-19. Public domain. ID: PIA21111.
