Ruins in Northern Acidalia Planitia

This view, processed directly from the full resolution raw image, contains an unusual feature which in many ways resembles ancient walls or possibly the remaining walls of an ancient series of buildings. The features appear to be raised above the surface rather than cracks caused by a fault or other natural geological processes. The area surrounding the anomaly appears to be either slanted upwards toward the top of the image (approximately north) or a lighter area caused by some type of deposits, such as stones that may have fallen from the walls or buildings. A second strip with out the linear features can be seen in the lower part of this image. Could this be a naturally occurring feature over which the walls may have been built? Could there have been several areas interconnected as the next image seems to suggest? In this case it is possible that some of the features have been covered by dust or sand and have been partially uncovered in one area. The streaks moving diagonally across the image suggest that prevailing winds may be causing constant movement of sand, sometimes burying and other times uncovering surface features.


This is a 2x enlargement which has also been sharpened and corrected for aspect ratio. It shows that the possible structure may have had hallways and doorways as well as revealing more subtle details of the surface. It can be seen that while parts of the structure may have fallen down the walls of the 'cells' are remarkably parallel and straight in many cases. The scale of this feature is quite large; for example the  central cell is about 360 meters vertically in this image. Click here for a comparison image showing the feature to the south in the image above.


This image processed from the raw context image shows the location of the anomalous feature. The feature appears to be part of a network consisiting strips of lighter-colored material. The area directly borders the ejecta blanket of a nearby crater to the right. This is most apparent in the extreme right of the image. The vertical bands are the remnants of stripes from the MGS camera not removed completely by the destriping filter.


This is a 3d northward-facing context image I rendered on Bryce with 1/32 degree MOLA data and a texture from a colorization of a high resolution map with a color map from Viking. The anomaly is located in the center of the image bordering the western edge of the ejecta blanket from the large crater. A moderate degree of  vertical exaggeration was added to emphasize the features of the topography. Click on image for a larger view.


This is a closeup view of the anomaly area with a high vertical exaggeration added to emphasize local topographical features. The anomaly is located in the approximate center of the image. Click on image for a larger view.


This is a photograph from a recent trip to Arizona of the ruin of a hogan on the Navajo Reservation above the Grand Canyon not far from where a secret cave may lie below.