Friday, August 30, 2013

Oxbows and Cutoffs in Idaeus Fossae


As rivers age they can meander and occasionally these meanders get so pronounced that the river cuts off these curving loops at their narrow end leaving them as isolated as oxbow lakes.

The objective of this observation is to check for the presence of these features. At HiRISE resolution, we should be able to test for traces of former meandering river channels in what looks like an oxbow feature in images from lower-resolution cameras.

Photo credit: NASA/JPL/University of Arizona

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