Northern Pancake

This Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) image shows a "pancake" or "pedestal" crater on the martian northern plains. The rocky ejecta from the crater protected the underlying material from being stripped away by wind, leaving the ejecta standing higher than the surrounding terrain. The rocks in the ejecta are not too clearly seen today, especially at the 6 meters (~20 feet) per pixel scale of this image, in part because they have been covered up by later, mantling material. MGS MOC Release No. MOC2-1540, 31 July 2006

Credits: NASA/JPL/Malin Space Science Systems