Avalanches on Mars Kick Up Dust

Image Credit: NASA/JPL/University of Arizona

Every spring the sun shines on Mars at the the north polar layered deposits, warm temperatures melt the ice causing an avalanche, blocks break loose and fall more than 500 meters down a cliff, which kick up a cloud of dust as seen in this photograph by the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment, on the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. The top layer of the north polar cap can be seen to the lower left, water may spread over a larger area from the dust.

Reference: https://www.uahirise.org/ESP_060176_2640