Abalos Undae is a dune field on Mars in the periphery of Planum Boreum, the Martian North pole. It is one of the officially named northern circumpolar dune fields, along with Olympia, Hyperboreae, and Siton Undae, and also one of the densest of the region. Its northernmost boundary is located in the southwest channel that separates the Abalos Colles formation from the main polar ice cap, and from there the dune field extends southwest all the way to the lowlands of Vastitas Borealis.
Abalos Undae dunes at Abalos Scopuli, the scarp of Abalos Mensa. The ice layers on the cap and basal formations are also visible. The picture was taken by the HiRISE camera on board the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter and was enhanced by NASA in RGB colour.
Abalos Undae at Abalos Scopuli, the scarp of Abalos Mensa
Dunes in Abalos Undae. The blue areas indicate the presence of dunes of basaltic origin, while the light-colour areas are probably dust.
Gypsum deposits in the dunes of Abalos Undae
Abalos Mensa is a wedge-shaped mound, or mensa and one of the named features in the vicinity of Planum Boreum, the Martian North pole. It is named after one of the classical albedo features on Mars. Its name was officially approved by IAU in 2006. It extends from latitude 80.21°N to 82.4°N and from longitude 279.34°E to 290.52°E. Its centre is located at latitude 81.17°N, longitude 284.4°E (75.6°W), and has a diameter of 129.18 km.
Perspective view of the Martian polar ice cap and the Rupes Tenuis scarp with Abalos Mensa on the left of the picture. Picture was taken by the Mars Express orbiter of the European Space Agency
The Rupes Tenuis scarp with Abalos Mensa at the top of the picture. Picture was taken by the European Space Agency
Scarp face of the north polar cap near Abalos Mensa. VIS image shows the scarp face of the north polar cap near Abalos Mensa. The top part of the image is the polar cap. This image was collected during northern hemisphere summer.