Mars Picture of the Day: Sedimentary Rock Layers

Mars Global Surveyor Mars Orbiter Camera

MGS MOC Release No. MOC2-348, 2 May 2003

NASA/JPL/Malin Space Science Systems

This Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) image
acquired in March 2003
shows dozens of repeated layers of sedimentary rock
in a western Arabia Terra crater at 8°N, 7°W.
Wind has sculpted the layered forms into hills somewhat elongated
toward the lower left (southwest). The dark patches at the bottom
(south) end of the image are drifts of windblown sand. These
sedimentary rocks might indicate that the crater was once the
site of a lake—or they may result from deposition by wind
in a completely dry, desert environment. Either way, these
rocks have something important to say about the geologic history
of Mars. The area shown is about 3 km (1.9 mi) wide.
Sunlight illuminates the scene from the
left.

Malin Space Science Systems and the California Institute of Technology
built the MOC using spare hardware from the Mars Observer mission.
MSSS operates the camera from its facilities in San Diego, California.
The Jet Propulsion Laboratory’s Mars Surveyor Operations Project
operates the Mars Global Surveyor spacecraft with its industrial
partner, Lockheed Martin Astronautics, from facilities in Pasadena,
California and Denver, Colorado.