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

[vikingmars]

Stu, your mosaic is great !
Thanks to it, I realized that one of the most interesting geological features to be seen on Cape York is "Dagger Valley" (outlined in yellow, a name I'm humbly suggesting) : a big incision with many layers surely to be sampled, like inside a small canyon. It exploration would complement our understanding of the history of past climate on Mars, as well as of Cape York itself...

[centsworth_II]

..."Dagger Valley" ...a big incision with many layers surely to be sampled, like inside a small canyon....

That certainly is an interesting feature. How it might have been formed, I have no clue. I'm not sure about the "layers" part though. If Cape York is part of Endeavour's rim, whatever layers may have existed before the impact are probably quite jumbled. I'm no crater rim morphology expert though.

Then there's that "freshish" crater on the South end, with plenty of large ejecta blocks scattered about. Those are not likely to be blocks of the same Meridiani pavement that Opportunity has been traversing for years, but blocks of whatever yet unexamined material the ancient rim of Endeavour is made of. I'd like to see those up close!

What a conundrum! The two most interesting features of Cape York are on the two extreme ends. I wonder if in the final approach, Opportunity will be directed to either end of Cape York or if the "landing" will take place near the center as previously indicated.