Any idea where site Tawny is located?

No - what's it from? The latest Pancam targets?

Phil

I concur, so you do not just need to feel about it my friend.
In the early part of the mission the rover did encounter several cracks that indeed were interpreted as signs underlying karst terrain, and that some now have been found to be associated with Endeavour crater could be a hint it have formed in cracks and areas where the bedrock have been shocked which gives us a bit of a timeline on the formation here. Even though the actual dating could be rather 'rubbery' indeed.

It's challenging to locate because the images haven't come down yet, but "Tawny" is the target that Oppy examined with the arm on Sol 3352. She briefly backed up and captured Pancam images of it on sol 3353 before moving on.

I think it's important to note that the cracks back in the pre-Victoria days are on the surface of a sedimentary stack hundreds of meters thick, while the cracks around Endeavour's rim are in a relatively thin layer of sediments covering the rim -- perhaps only a few meters thick in some spots. The near underlying rock in both cases is totally different, so the processes resulting in the cracks on the surface is likely different as well.

For example, the karst explanation may work well for the earlier terrain while the cause of the Endeavour rim cracks could more likely be the result of slumping of the underlying crater rim or differential expansion/contraction of the thin sulfate surface layer and the underlying rock of the rim.

Just my meagerly informed musings.

The wetting/dessication cycle could be one in tens of thousands of years (orbital/precession cycles), and still be effective at creating "active" features in this profoundly ancient landsacpe.

Oh, agreed wholeheartedly. The Anatolia features seen early on and these lineations seen here are of the products vastly different ages, processes and Mars'es (climates). Especially intriguing is the terrain to the east within Endeavour which has many AnatoliaFeature-like characteristics but with a different genesis.

And doubly especially the thin, persistent (over a few kilometers at least) unit of the Meridiani Onlap which represents an unconformable contact between the old weathered and reworked impactites of the"Endeavour formation" and the newer sedimentary clastics of the basal Meridiani formation. This is a unique instant in geological time and we need to be looking at the ground under our boots to hear it's story...

--Bill

Master of the understatement.

It's in this vicinity:

--Bill

At the scale of a HiRISE image Tawny can be located a bit more precisely than that, Bill! It was within reach of the arm on sol 3352, and Opportunity was driving backwards with its arm on its north side at the time, so Tawny is a pixel or two on the north side of the sol 3351 location. It's at the scale of the rover camera mapping that we don't yet know where it is

Phil

But without FHazcams w/ the IDD deployed or the Pancam sequence we won't know exactly where Tawny is.

I guess it may be in this locale

http://www.midnightplanets.com/data/MERBRa...R9P1205L0M1.JPG

and zooming in on the HiRISE image I can pick out which of several rocks it might be, but not exactly. But I'll guess when we do get a peek at it, it'll be almost earthshaking...

--Bill

As Phil says, "Tawny" is near the sol 3351 marker (assuming that's in the right place), facing SW from the rover. This sol 3351 Front Hazcam image should show it: 03351/1F425685490EFFC3NLP1214L0M1.

But I'm not sure "Tawny" was much of anything; they might just have been checking out the arm after this potentiometer issue mentioned in the latest rover update.

The feature you're interested in (post-drive on 3353) doesn't have a name yet, that I'm aware of. (Well it might have a name that we don't know about, but you know what I mean: there are no Pancam images of it the metadata yet.)

Yes... I guess... we're just going to have to wait.

<MOD HAT ON> Very funny, all, but let's try to stay a bit focused, eh?

The opstempo right now is a bit (well, quite a bit) more leisurely than previously. So, we're gettin' a little bored in the long intervals between new events. Understandable & natural.

Unfortunately that means that the SNR of this thread is decreasing thereby. I don't think it's intentional at all, but nevertheless it's happening.

So...just a gentle (and I do mean that) reminder to try to focus a bit more on the observations & the science. That's all.

</MOD>

I'm not sure what your point is, because this is a MER thread.

The point is that I'm an idiot, I'm really tired (tough couple of days, in the middle of a temp schedule alteration) & screwed up. Post modified; thanks, Mike!!!