A Peek Inside a Mars Impact Crater—And It’s Wild.mp4

NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter captured the stunning shot of the "enigmatic" mounds on the floor of a crater in Bosphorous Planum.

Transcript

00:00Strange mounds on Martian crater's floor have scientists scratching their heads.

00:08NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter captured the stunning shot with its high-rise camera.

00:13The odd mounds are in an unnamed impact crater located in an area south of the Red Planet's

00:18canyon region, Valles Marineris. NASA isn't sure how they formed, asking are they products

00:24of sublimation and crater inversion. Sublimation is the process where a solid goes directly to a

00:29gas, kind of like watching dry ice disappear on Earth. When cracks occur on Mars, underground

00:33ice sublimates along the surface, altering the terrain. NASA says crater inversion is seen on

00:39both Earth and Mars and is caused when erosion strips away the surrounding terrain. Inverted

00:44craters stick up above the ground instead of being a depression like most other craters.