Jezero Delta Campaign, Sols 414-1000, 21 Apr 2022- 23 Dec 2023 Options

[Ant103]

Thanks Phil

Sol 420 Navcam panoramic. I really love this place, it's nice to finally see changes in the landscape.



Also deserved a Postcard :

[Saturns Moon Tit...]

Gigapan - PERSEVERANCE 419 -N
© NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS/ASU/NeV-T

I think this portion of your panorama might be our best view of Neretva Vallis yet. Neretva Vallis is the canyon cutting through the crater wall of Jezero Crater about 7 km to the NW, through which the river that formed the Jezero delta flowed. Once the rover drives ontop of the delta, we'll finally get to see an unobstructed view of the canyon which we'll be driving through in a year or two.

[tau]

Sol 420 Supercam Remote Micro-Imager mosaic with sol 419 Navcam context
The mosaic shows the upper right corner of the sol 419 Mastcam-Z multispectral photo (see post #27), but from a slightly different perspective.

[tau]

Another sol 420 Supercam Remote Micro-Imager mosaic with sol 420 Mastcam-Z context

[Keltos]

Sol 420 Supercam Remote Micro-Imager mosaic with sol 419 Navcam context
The mosaic shows the upper right corner of the sol 419 Mastcam-Z multispectral photo (see post #27), but from a slightly different perspective.

very nice view tau !

Distance: 310 m (rmi scale is 2.2 cm per pixel at 2000 m - source Dr. Gwénaël Caravaca)

[john_s]

Another sol 420 Supercam Remote Micro-Imager mosaic with sol 420 Mastcam-Z context

First closeup of the bedrock hereabouts. The texture looks like the Séítah rocks at first glance. But we may not have transitioned to the sub-delta layered unit yet.

John

[john_s]

...aaand now we've transitioned to the layered unit:

[HSchirmer]

Gigapan - PERSEVERANCE 414
© NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS/ASU/NeV-T

Wow, amazing shot.
Definitely should be "Jakku lithofacies" due to the resemblance to fictional planet covered in crashed star destroyers...

[Phil Stooke]

Sol 421, circular panorama with some nice outcrops between the aeolian ridges.

Phil

[Saturns Moon Tit...]

I concur with john_s. The rocks on Sol 420, best seen in Ant103's panorama, in my opinion look like the igneous rocks we saw earlier. Their colour, texture, and subdued relief reminds me of the upper Maaz formation members encountered early in the mission, remember the first failed coring attempt? Meanwhile the Sol 421 lithology is very different and is all consistent with prodelta mudstones, which must be an exciting moment for the mission's geologists.

That means sometime in the last drive, the rover crossed the geological contact between the two units. On the surface, this contact may not have been spotted, as the area is covered in sand ripples and the contact is between two quite soft rock types. However, perhaps they've detected the contact in the subsurface using Rimfax, the radar instrument. In fact, the last two drives look very well suited for doing such a radar survey: the rover pivoted northwards and has conducted a nearly straight, N-S transect across the boundary, so I expect that's what they're doing right now. The rover did this same thing the last time it crossed a major boundary, when it entered the Seitah Formation around Sol 200 (see image for the results of that survey). I wonder if this was a major motivation for the rover planners choosing to come here in the first place instead of going to Hawksbill Gap: because this area better preserves the contact between the delta and the lava flow, allowing them to do a transect & Rimfax survey.

[serpens]

Given the step back of the delta and what appears to be a contact between the effusive lava and sedimentary deposits I feel the layered unit is more likely later delta deposits than prodelta/lake bed remnants. Getting close up and personal will tell the tale.

[tau]

Layered outcrops at the base of Cape Nukshak.
1. Sol 420 Mastcam-Z image mosaic from a distance of about 44 m, with enhanced colors. I see two different layered units here: a bluish-gray unit on top of a orange-brown unit.
2. Sol 420 Mastcam-Z anaglyph
3. Sol 421 Navcam, now very close (about 5 m)
1 . . 2 . . 3

[Saturns Moon Tit...]

I agree, there's two distinct units here, corresponding to the different colours of the "bacon strip". I wonder what the significance of that colour difference is? This Mastcam zoom-in taken today shows cm or mm-scale layering. Perhaps that represents annual cyclicity. The grain size seems to be too fine to resolve individual grains, certainly it's finer-grained than the aeolian sediment ontop of it. I hope the rover does an abrasion here so we can see how thin the layering is & try and resolve some grains with the hand lens.

[PaulH51]

Sol 422 NavCam after a short bump
I have a feeling we could be here for a while

[Phil Stooke]

Sol 422 circular view. As Paul says, just a small move.

Phil