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Juventae Chasma - Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter
This image shows the northern end of a mound of sedimentary rock in Juventae Chasma, a canyon north of the Valles Marineris canyon system. This canyon system is the apparent source of the Maja Vallis outflow canyon system.
The floor of Juventae Chasma lies nearly 5 km below the surrounding plains of Lunae Planum, and appears to have formed through a combination of extensional faulting and melting of subsurface ice. In places, this canyon was infilled by thick sedimentary deposits up to 3 km thick. These deposits are sulfate-rich (similar to those in Meridiani Planum and Gale Crater) and suggest they were deposited at a time when water was becoming more scarce on Mars.
Eons of wind erosion have sculpted these deposits into thick mounds with deeply incised canyons. In some places, layers form rhythmically spaced layers, indicating that astronomical cycles such as orbital eccentricity and pole orientation were strong controls on the deposition of sediments.
This image was created using the CRISM imaging spectrometer. Each pixel of a CRISM image contains a 500 point spectrum, from which a color can be reconstructed. This reconstructed color was overlaid on a higher-resolution image taken with the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Context Camera (CTX), which simultaneously took a photo while CRISM was collecting data.
This image was taken on February 14, 2007. It uses CRISM observation HRL0000444C and CTX observation P04_002590_1768_XI_03S061W.
Image Credit: NASA / JPL / JHUAPL / MSSS / Aster Cowart
Juventae Chasma - Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter
This image shows the northern end of a mound of sedimentary rock in Juventae Chasma, a canyon north of the Valles Marineris canyon system. This canyon system is the apparent source of the Maja Vallis outflow canyon system.
The floor of Juventae Chasma lies nearly 5 km below the surrounding plains of Lunae Planum, and appears to have formed through a combination of extensional faulting and melting of subsurface ice. In places, this canyon was infilled by thick sedimentary deposits up to 3 km thick. These deposits are sulfate-rich (similar to those in Meridiani Planum and Gale Crater) and suggest they were deposited at a time when water was becoming more scarce on Mars.
Eons of wind erosion have sculpted these deposits into thick mounds with deeply incised canyons. In some places, layers form rhythmically spaced layers, indicating that astronomical cycles such as orbital eccentricity and pole orientation were strong controls on the deposition of sediments.
This image was created using the CRISM imaging spectrometer. Each pixel of a CRISM image contains a 500 point spectrum, from which a color can be reconstructed. This reconstructed color was overlaid on a higher-resolution image taken with the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Context Camera (CTX), which simultaneously took a photo while CRISM was collecting data.
This image was taken on February 14, 2007. It uses CRISM observation HRL0000444C and CTX observation P04_002590_1768_XI_03S061W.
Image Credit: NASA / JPL / JHUAPL / MSSS / Aster Cowart