Wind erosion in the Martian polar regions

Photographic evidence suggests that many topographic features of the polar regions of Mars may have been sculptured by wind action. In the case of the pitted terrain, this is established by relating the orientations of elongate basins and grooves to patterns of albedo markings that are generally accepted to be wind-formed. Small-scale flutes and other textures of laminated terrain recognized outside the perennial ice cap in the south polar region are also attributed to eolian action. Winds flowing off the polar cap and spiraling toward the west seem to be responsible. More speculatively the large-scale circumpolar features which underlie the residual polar caps may be related to wind erosion. Rotational motion localized on circular segments of the perennial frost deposits are proposed as a mechanism.