El Dorado, The place formerly known as Ultreya Options

[dot.dk]

Steve has a new update:
http://athena1.cornell.edu/news/mubss/

And it looks like the official name for the Ultreya Abyss now is "El Dorado"

I looked up El Dorado and the poem is actually quite fitting

by Edgar Allan Poe
(1849)

Gaily bedight,
A gallant knight,
In sunshine and in shadow,
Had journeyed long,
Singing a song,
In search of Eldorado.

But he grew old-
This knight so bold-
And o'er his heart a shadow
Fell as he found
No spot of ground
That looked like Eldorado.

And, as his strength
Failed him at length,
He met a pilgrim shadow-
"Shadow," said he,
"Where can it be-
This land of Eldorado?"

"Over the Mountains
Of the Moon,
Down the Valley of the Shadow,
Ride, boldly ride,"
The shade replied-
"If you seek for Eldorado!"

[Reckless]

Well done Ustrax and thanks to Doug Ellison it's good to get a mention from the MER PI even for us lower down (but trying to climb) the stratigraphic layers of this great forum


Reckless

[ustrax]

According to a very SSpecial update...

Q: Now, a concrete question...Is there any idea of what might be the origin of the dark sand at El Dorado?


A: Good question. That's one of the things we hope to learn by going there, if that's what we decide to do. My best guess is that it's sort of an eolian cul-de-sac, where the local configuration of terrain and prevailing wind flow means that sand can get in but can't get out again. If you look carefully, you'll see that there are several similar dark sand patches on the northern side of Clark Hill, in similar geometric configurations.

Q: Even now, looking at the recent images it looks to me that the sand filled an empty space and not just 'climbed the gentle hill slope, but probably I'm wrong.


A: I think that it probably just climbed a hill slope, but we should get a better handle on that once we're in position to do some good Pancam observations on it. As I write this we're planning the approach to Comanche (actually, to the smaller rock just north of Comanche). We'll execute the approach on Sol 697, and by the time we're in position to do IDD work we should also be in position to get our first decent look at El Dorado. Then we'll see what we see.