[X] My Assistant

[glennwsmith]

I am a newcomer to this site, so please bear with me.

From today's (Sol 460) rear Hazcam views, it appears that Spirit has driven onto strata which looks remarkably like the "blueberry"-strewen Meridiani plain!!!

This is confirmed by the 4 Pancam views, which also seem to show the blueberries, as well as the same finely-layered, blueberry-filled rock found everywhere on Meridiani.

There's a lot more that could be said about the implications of this, if true, but I would first like to know if anyone else has the same reaction to these photos as myself.

Glenn

[gpurcell]

Crumpler noted that there is a considerable age difference between the Columbia Hills and the lava plain that Spirit crossed to reach the Hills. He likened the Hills to a sandstone butte surrounded by fresh, young lava flows, similar to the landscape that is found in the United States’ Southwest. “The Hills are much, much older,” Crumpler said. “You can actually see the contact between the two where the lava flows sort of lapped up on the edges of the Hills. When you cross that boundary you go from the basalts which show only small amounts of weathering and alteration to the rocks on the Columbia Hills that are totally ‘grunged-up’ and altered, and basically water-soaked at some time in their history.”

Sounds like sediments from Lake Gusev!