Geomorphology of Cape York and Solander Point, Examining Opportunity's destination at Endeavour Crater Options

[Stu]

Everyone, say hello to Cape York... in colour...



Larger version on my blog: http://roadtoendeavour.wordpress.com/2010/...-york-in-colour

[sariondil]

Judging from the DTM I used in post #30, the lake would start to spill through Torres Strait if the lake level were only about 10 - 15 m higher. But the valley winding around Cape Tribulation appears to be lower.

Regarding the billions of years of erosion, I remember that the erosion rates for the last 2.5 billion years are thought to be extremely low (can´t find that paper right now).

Let me throw in two observations from my area: First, the South German Molasse Basin has a c. 15 million years old shoreline that is still, in places, a quite well-preserved terrace-like feature. And erosion rates are definitly higher than on Mars! I will look for numbers if you are interested.

Second, since this is a crater rim, I´m not convinced that the rocks of Cape York formed at its present place. The Ries crater in Bavaria (24 km) is known to have ejected relatively intact blocks up to 1.5 km in size. If Cape York were such a block, its rocks could have formed at a much deeper topographic level, and before the Endeavour cratering event. So, the phyllosilicates may have formed much earlier, and could be totally unrelated to the hypothetical younger shoreline.