Dune material covers many impact craters and hummocks on the Martian surface in the region where Viking 2 will land today. The targeted landing point -- at about 48 N. Lat., 226 W. Long., in an area named Utopia, is near the center of this Viking Orbiter 2 photo taken from a range of about 3300 kilometers (2050 miles). The wind-blown deposits shown in this computer-enhanced picture as fine parallel lines extending from north to south (top to bottom). The dunes are about 250 maters (750 feet) crest to crest and 10 to 20 maters (30 to 60 feet) high. The dunes are thick enough to cover most of the blocks thrown from impact craters. A few young craters may dig up blocks buried in the dunes and throw them onto the surface. This picture was specially processed by computer at the JPL Image Processing Laboratory.
