NASA Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter HiRISE Image: Colorful Rocks in Terra Sabaea

This region of the ancient Southern highlands has been shaped by tectonics: faulting and folding of bedrock units. It also has proven to be quite interesting in HiRISE color. The colors (enhanced in the subimage) indicate that a variety of minerals are present. This region was targeted by CRISM to follow up on a prior detection of olivine here. Olivine, a volcanic mineral, makes the blue-green color unit seen by HiRISE. Written by: Alfred McEwen (14 September 2011) Images