Studying mars

As one who reads a lot on geomorphology its intriguing to be able to study and observe geological process without the interference of vegetation.

We don't often realize this but for much of this planets existence there was no vegetation.

Plant life evolved in water and then migrated to dry land. Until then weathering, erosion, deposition and other geological process went forward unimpeded by roots grass etc. binding the soil.

Aside from in certain deserts and high altitudes we can't really view these processes today on a global scale.

Mars has opened up a whole new world for geomorphologists, that is expanded to the average enthusiast, with images released into the public domain or made available in applications like Google Mars.

For those who like to read the story written in rocks and land formations it's as if a trove of lost works of Shakespeare or a hidden Picasso vault has been discovered.

The image below shows movement of material down slope on the edge of a crater and eventually fanning out at the bottom of the crater floor.

Beautiful channels are also preserved in the fans much like the braided channels of river mouth deltas.

Big Picture link

I have put a link to the original for the purpose of viewing it in full zoom. You can see magnificent angular patterns in the soil, probably created by expansion and contraction activities in the sub soil frost.

This is much like the angular patterns we see in permafrost here on earth

Img Source