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Jan. 01, 1972 - Pits And Hollows - On Mars: Extraordinary pits and hollows, never before seen on Mars, were photographed recently by the orbiting Marliner 9 spacecraft. Located about 4500 miles from the Martian South Pole, these features pose some provocative questions about the geological processes which have shaped the landforms of the polar region. The two large closed basins, at left, are about 10 miles across. The small pits are one to two miles in diameter. Unlike collapse features resulting from volcanic withdrawal, these hollows exhibit no interior terraces. Conceivably, these structures may have resulted from the thawing of large accumulations of ground ice. Another possibility is that they are deflation hollows developed by wind action in loosely consolidated materials. The picture was taken with Mariner 9's high-resolution TV camera from a range of 2072 miles during orbit 108

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4500 Basins Collapse Consolidated Deflation Developed Diameter Exhibit Extraordinary Geological Hollows Landforms Loosely Mariner Martian Orbit Orbiting Pits Possibility Processes Provocative Questions Resulted Resulting Spacecraft Structures Terraces Thawing Unlike Volcanic Withdrawal

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