NASA Mars Picture of the Day: Layers in East Candor

Mars Global Surveyor Mars Orbiter Camera

MGS MOC Release No. MOC2-475, 6 September 2003

NASA/JPL/Malin Space Science Systems

Eroded, layered sedimentary rock exposures are common in
the chasms of the Valles Marineris system.
This Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC)
image shows some of the layers in eastern Candor Chasma.
Faulting has created the steep slope that runs left to right
across the lower half of the image. About two-thirds of the
way down this slope occurs a distinct change from a
spur-and-gully slope morphology to a flatter topography overlain
by piles of talus that have come down the slopes. This
abrupt change might indicate the location of a fault. The
picture is located near
7.2°S, 69.0°W and covers an area 3 km (1.9 mi) across.
The scene is illuminated by sunlight 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.