Journey to Mt Sharp - Part 1: Site 7 to Waypoint 1, Sol324 [Jul4,'13] to Sol391 [Sep12,'13] Options

[Ant103]

Sol 328 Navcam pan.



I'm pretty sure we can see Rocknest near the left-center of the panorama .

[Phil Stooke]

Yes, that's Rocknest. This is the back half of the previous pan, making a full 360 degrees before they drove on later in the sol.

Here's a full 360 in a circular projection:



Phil

[Gerald]

"If" being the key word. "IF" the dark dune is segregated basalt sand, where is the basalt the sand coming from? directly under the dune?

Most of it from distant locations, probably from outside Gale Crater where basaltic bedrock is more abundant.

[Ant103]

Good point Phil

So, here's the full pan, Sol 327 & 329 :

[dvandorn]

In re the dark dunes, they remind me of El Dorado in Gusev. That dark dune field, while much smaller than the ones ringing Mt. Sharp, looked as dark from a distance and from above as the ones here in Gale. When we got really close to El Dorado, we found there is a thin layer of the ubiquitous red dust on the mini-dune ridges, but it's mostly just black basaltic dust.

I would imagine these dark dunes in Gale formed by a similar process as that which created El Dorado, an area that is wind-shadowed in such a way that the black basaltic grains are preferentially dropped from the general airborne dust entrainment. Or, maybe not exactly a wind shadow, more of a place where Mt. Sharp's effect on the winds causes the exact right kind of instability in the air that causes the preferential deposition.

The big difference between these extensive dune fields here at Gale and the El Dorado field in Gusev is that Mt. Sharp is a much bigger hill than Husband Hill was, so these dune fields are much larger and seem to show some differences in albedo (we'll know about textural differences when we get there), depending on how far away from Mt. Sharp you are (or maybe the angle of repose upon which the dunes formed; the two are sort of interrelated). Could be that the "edges" of the wind instability that causes the preferential deposition show a more well-mixed deposition? Again, something we will know more about when we get there.

In any event, we see this effect literally everywhere on Mars, be it influenced by mountains, crater rims or whatever causes the right kind of instability that causes the preferential deposition. It's certainly not unique to Gale.

-the other Doug

[Phil Stooke]

A very rough circular half-pan for the 329 location.

Phil

[ngunn]

Nearby is a prominent two-toned hill

A very interesting feature also. The dark grey patches look like avalanches that have broken through a brighter red crust, consistent perhaps with the hill being made of sand. Given that we believe Mars experiences big climatic swings it seems reasonable that there might be evidence of multiple eras of dune formation here, in this favoured location (as evidenced by the presence of an active dune system today).

[EdTruthan]

Sol 329 - Hazcam Anaglyphs from new our position after the 41.05 meter afternoon drive. Tracks from the Sol 52 drive visible at upper right of front view....

Rear:


Front:

[Ant103]

Sol 329 Navcam pan (and the good one, I've made a mistake between 328 and 329… ).

[Ant103]

Sol 331 Navcam pan :



Isn't it Jake Matijeivic we can see near the horizon, at the center of the image ?

[PaulH51]

Isn't it Jake Matijeivic we can see near the horizon, at the center of the image ?

It's in the correct position, nice observation Damia

[Phil Stooke]

Looks like you're right, Damia.

Here's a circular version of that pan:



Phil

PS - probably not on the next drive, but on the one after that, we will pass the 1 km mark.

[fredk]

As you could guess from the sol 331 drive, the plan seems to be to divert south of the old route now. Here's a proposed route from the latest video update:

[EdTruthan]

Onward! Looks like it's all new digs from here then. Here are post-drive Sol331 front and rear Hazcam Anaglyphs...

Front:


Rear:


...and thanks as always Phil for the ongoing route map updates. Having the scale bar (
as suggested by charborob) is a really nice addition.

[Zelenyikot]

My try to make ChemCam panorana on Sol 327.

Attached thumbnail(s)