This image shows the southeast rim of a large degraded crater where a valley breaches the crater rim. The valley itself, no longer pristine, is difficult to locate in the image.

However, it appears to be in the center near the right of the crater rim. It is possible that this valley transported water into the crater forming a lake in the ancient past.

The scene is peppered with craters of various sizes and states of degradation, indicating that the surface is not young. A few craters are young enough to still have raised rims. One of these, located on the floor of the larger crater, has distinct raised ejecta radiating out from it.

The crater also has dunes on its floor, indicating that aeolian (wind) processes have modified it since it formed.

For information about NASA and agency programs on the Web, visit: http://www.nasa.gov. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, Calif., manages the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington. Lockheed Martin Space Systems is the prime contractor for the project and built the spacecraft. The HiRISE camera was built by Ball Aerospace and Technology Corporation and is operated by the University of Arizona. The image data were processed using the U.S. Geological Survey’s ISIS3 software.