NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter has taken the first ever images of avalanches of ice and dust careening down slopes near the planet's north pole.

The full image reveals features as small as a desk in a strip of terrain six-kilometres-wide and more than 10 times as long, at. Reddish layers known to be rich in water ice make up the face of a steep slope more than 700 m tall, running along the image. Clouds of reddish brown dust can be seen rising in the wake of the avalanche.