CORNELIA CRATER (IMAGE)

Southwest Research Institute

CORNELIA CRATER

Caption

This image of the Cornelia Crater on Vesta shows lobate deposits (right) and curvilinear gullies (highlighted by the short white arrows, left). According to a newly published paper in The Planetary Science Journal, ice underneath the surface of an airless world could be excavated and melted by an impact, such as from a meteoroid impact, and then flow along the walls of the impact crater as liquid brines to form these distinct surface features.

Credit

Jet Propulsion Laboratory

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