Southward from San Antonio to the Next Waypoint Options

[eoincampbell]

Almost seems that you could take a spade, jam it under the slab, lever and remove...

[Bill Harris]

Here is hoping that this trend for changes in the geology will keep up. Recently we saw that nice, rounded evaporite boulder (named Newfoundland?) sitting by itself. Now we see a bedrock slab that has apparently moved. If this were an ancient buried crater being exhumed we would see signs of arc-shaped rim remnants in the orbital images, as we did at Erebus and the unnamed crater we skirted between Shelter Island and Marquette. One thing that can cause collapse is solutioning (solution cavities) caused by groundwater. Given the Anatolia features, vugs seen at (?? oh my, that crater we landed in), and possible fracture fill in several locations it is clear that this is a karst landscape. Now that we are getting near to the slope, the potential surface for the groundwater can create more movement.

We'll see. The journey continues.

--Bill

[Pertinax]

(?? oh my, that crater we landed in)

Eagle

I had the same thing happen to me last week as I was trying to remember Erebus.


-- Pertinax

[Bill Harris]

Eagle, one of those "E"-words (Endurance, Endeavour), and a good old hole-in-one golf term, too.

Thanks...

--Bill

[climber]

Yes, knowing it start with a E is of no help actually!
A question to Bill: I thought you expected a dramatic change only when we would start going down to Endeavour. I have the feeling that you start to may be already "feel" the rim where we are now? Am I right? If so, is it due to the ground trust (which is 2 orders or magnitude (IIRC) better than HiRise) or a global analyse?
Thanks.

[CosmicRocker]

Speaking of geologic changes, I've been wondering about the phyllosilicates observed in and near Endeavour's rim. The phyllosilicate group contains a lot of different minerals, not all of which are clay minerals. I was going to ask if anyone here had more specific information about which phyllosilicate minerals had been detected from orbit. Instead, I managed to find a paper with those and many other interesting details. It contains imagery showing many of the CRISM identified anomalies on and near the rim segments Opportunity is heading for.

This is a very interesting paper for anyone interested in this subject. It contains stratigraphic and structural information about the relationships between the Meridiani sulfate sediments and Endeavour's rim rocks. It says that ferro-magnesian smectite clay minerals are indicated by the spectra of the rim, and polyhydrated sulfates are seen in the plains to some distance west of the rim.

The "Discussion and Conclusion" section makes it clear just how important a role Opportunity can play in elucidating the early story of water on Mars...the time before the water became acidic...the transition between the end of the formation of such clay minerals and the beginning of the era of acid sulfate deposition.

Phyllosilicates and sulfates at Endeavour Crater, Meridiani Planum, Mars; J. J. Wray, E. Z. Noe Dobrea, R. E. Arvidson, S. M. Wiseman, S. W. Squyres,A. S. McEwen, J. F. Mustard, and S. L. Murchie November 2009

[ngunn]

Hey, that's really great. Thanks for posting.

[Bill Harris]

Good reference, CR. I neeed to dig more and keep up on the current literature.

Climber-- In geology, you notice subtle changes. Although I talk like it will be sudden and profound, the changes will be very small and happen slowly. We will see more change in the next year than we have seen in the previous six years. This will be primarily because we are going downhill topographically and therefore downward in the geologic column.

The best illustration I've seen comes from the paper that Cosmic Rocker just mentioned:

http://www.planetary.brown.edu/pdfs/3954.pdf

Attached is a clip from Figure 1 of that paper, showing a topgraphic and geologic cross-section of the traverse from Eagle to Endeavour. Note the horizintal layers with hematite, horizontal layers with hydration signatures and phyllosilicale-bearing layers. All of which indicate different depositional environments. Or climates.

Currently, Oppy is at the 10-11 Km distance mark.

--Bill

Attached thumbnail(s)

 

[climber]

Thanks Bill.
I also noticed in the paper that Mini-Tes will get readings.
Is it still usable or is there still too much dust on it? Then, I can't remember how far from Columbia Hills it was used on Spirit so, does somebody knows how far from Endeavour it could be used and get decent readings?

[Bill Harris]

In a couple of messages scattered between here and the "Distant Vistas" thread I've mentioned the geology, the lithology (rock types) and the topography and it how it all relates to what we're seeing here. In today's Planetary Society Blog, Emily discusses geomorphology ("how the geology got the way it is") with reference to another area, the Nili Fossae region near Syrtis Major. Well worth the read.

http://www.planetary.org/blog/article/00002472/

--Bill

[fredk]

An artistic shot, really. It was named "Moment in Time".

Interesting story behind this...

Edit - more details here.

[nprev]

Way to go. Emily!

[elakdawalla]

Got a HiWish image and had my finger in the pot for an Opportunity color photo, all in the same week!

[fredk]

Oh my how fun it'd be to enter the "location" field on the entry form for Oppy's image...

[nprev]

I tried 'Meridiani Planum, Mars', got a 'sorry, we couldn't find that location'. What, no Google Mars plug-in?!

(Pretty sweet week all right, Emily!)