[X] My Assistant

[jvandriel]

Spirit is now almost at the bottom of Inner Basin.

Time to start a new topic.

Here is a 360 degree panoramic view taken with the L0 navcam on Sol 667.

jvandriel

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[djellison]

Oh - still some wind, but the reason the dust is there imho is because it is less windy than elsewhere on the hills - like silt on the apex of a river bend.

Doug

[ustrax]

The other thing is about the southern slope of Columbia Hill, where is localized the Ultreya looks continued smooth and curved surface. That mean that zone is sand deposited.

Rodolfo

Not trying to reanimate a dead abyss here but it looks like the sand deposited in Ultreya has filled a depression, if you look carefuly you can see that there is a west and a east wall (with Comanche coronating it), like if the sand filled throughout times a gap, creating a sandy slope on the southside of Husband Hill.
How much time would be needed to create a wall of sand of that size, counting from the basin floor?

[RNeuhaus]

Oh - still some wind, but the reason the dust is there imho is because it is less windy than elsewhere on the hills - like silt on the apex of a river bend.

Doug

Looks interesting. It is a good possibility. smooth wind = dust, strong wind = sand.

My gut feeling is sand, ,you has heard the Ustrax words, he is intrigating of that nice curve so not Ultreya has become prettier. How many years of sculpture. No idea. Maybe billions years...Depends upon to many factors but sure if that Hill Columbia has no sand, it would look ugly.

Rodolfo

[djellison]

Using the river analogy - it's the heaviest particles that drop first, lighter particles carry further, so perhaps heavier, more basaltic-sand-like particles get dropped in this area, whilst the lighter dust remains airborn?

Just guessing, but it would make sense. There are a couple of similarly colours patches elsewhere in the Columbia complex, and in the same sort of position w.r.t. peaks.

Doug

[RNeuhaus]

After I recalled that I have seen some places with dust (the most dangerous place to transverse. My truck had sunk about 20 cms due to the dust and I had to pull 4x4 LOW rear in order to get off). These places is of little or wind calm. It is very probably that the Ultreya slope is covered mostly by dust. So, the rover driver must be beware to transverse by there.

Rodolfo

What is w.r.t.? Another acronym to learn

[djellison]

W.R.T. = with respect to

i.e. Ultreya doesnt look good w.r.t. driveability

Doug

[mhoward]

Looks we are parked on a *huge* outcrop. Here are some anaglyphs (and one normal one of Comanche, since the view is gorgeous)

[RNeuhaus]

I am suspecting that the base of Home Plate would look like an outcrop as the above picture...

Rodolfo

[dilo]

Sol693 Panoramic Camera mosaic (about 90deg FOV):

Some enhancement was done in order to show distant Gusev Rim behind Home Plate.
A stretch of the right portion, showing Ultreya/Eldorado profile, was posted on another thread.

[dilo]

3x stretch of Homeplate detail from previous panorama. Arrow indicate possible collapsed portion of the south rim...

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[jvandriel]

Here is a R1 pancam panoramic view taken on Sol 692.

jvandriel

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[jvandriel]

A panoramic view of Inner Basin on Sol 693 taken with the L7 pancam.

I have changed the brightness for better viewing with some loss of detail of the craterrim

in the background. ( see Dilo's pan )

jvandriel

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[jvandriel]

Here is a navcam panoramic view of Inner Basin.

Taken with the L0 navcam on Sol 692.

jvandriel

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[jvandriel]

A panoramic view of the bedrock.

Taken with the L0 navcam on Sol 693.

jvandriel

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[algorimancer]

3x stretch of Homeplate detail from previous panorama. Arrow indicate possible collapsed portion of the south rim...

Based upon a comparison of pics from orbit & hill-top some time back, there appears to be a small crater in that position.