One prominent feature in the HRSC images is the ejecta blanket of an approximately 15-kilometer-wide impact crater (see annotated image). The lobate appearance of this ejecta blanket and the fact that it is double-layered is typical for a high volatile content in the target material. This kind of ejecta is called fluidized ejecta. Not only the morphology, but also spectral data of the ejecta show signatures of water-rich material, possibly excavated from shallow depths. The ejecta blanket looks well-defined, and the crater rim is not eroded, so the impact event must have happened relatively recently, speaking in terms of geological time scales. Fluidized ejecta blankets are pretty common in the mid-latitudes supporting the following climate suggestions for Mars.

A Martian climate model suggests that during periods of high obliquity (axis tilt), ice accumulation extended to the mid-latitudes – not only at the poles – and was later presumably covered by other material that protected it from sublimation. Since Arcadia Planitia is located in the mid-latitudes, the plains are known for the potential presence of ice near the surface, either in the form of excess ice (ice volume exceeding the total pore volume) or pore ice (ice within a matrix). Various geomorphological features in this region have been interpreted as ice-related. Due to the potential presence of water ice, some researchers have proposed Arcadia Planitia as a landing site for future robotic or human  missions to Mars.