full-size images:
Shaded Relief (1.0 MB)
Anaglyph (820 K)
All of the major landforms relate to volcanism and/or erosion in this
Shuttle
Radar Topography Mission scene of Patagonia, near La Esperanza,
Argentina. The two prominent plateaus once formed a continuous surface
that extended over much of this region. Younger volcanoes have grown
through and atop the plateau, and one just south of this scene has sent
a long, narrow flow down a stream channel (lower left). The topographic
pattern shows that streams dominate the erosion processes in this arid
environment even though wind is known to move substantial amounts of
sediment here.
Two visualization methods were combined to produce this image: shading
and color coding of topographic height. The shade image was derived by
computing topographic slope in the north-south direction. Northern
slopes appear bright and southern slopes appear dark, as would be the
case at noon at this latitude in the southern hemisphere. Color-coding
is directly related to topographic height, with green at the lower
elevations, rising through yellow, red, and magenta, to white at the
highest elevations.
Size: 62.4 by 88.8 kilometers (38.7 by 55.1 miles)
Location: 40.0 deg. South lat., 68.6 deg. West lon.
Orientation: North toward the top
Image Data: Shaded and colored SRTM elevation model
Date Acquired: February 2000
Image courtesy NASA/JPL/NIMA