Mars Global Surveyor
Mars Orbiter Camera
Massive Unit in Gale Crater Mound
MGS MOC Release No. MOC2-265H, 4 December 2000
The upper rocks exposed in the Gale Crater central mound are
"massive". That is, they show no, or very weak, hints of being layered.
Massive units are usually found above layered units among the
sedimentary rock outcrops on Mars. The lack or near-lack of layering
may indicate that the environment in which these materials were
deposited was less dynamic than the time when the layered materials
were formed. Their presence likely indicates a change or evolution in
martian geologic processes and perhaps climate during the first
billion (or less) years of martian history. The picture on the left
shows an example of one of the massive units exposed in Mars Global
Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) image M03-01521. The picture
on the right is a colored map showing the different layered and
massive rock units identified in the Gale Crater mound; the white box
indicates the location of the picture on the left. Refer to "Oblique view of Gale Crater Mound," MOC2-265E,
December 4, 2000 to see the location of the color map relative to
the entire mound. For additional information about Gale Crater, see Sediment History Preserved in Gale Crater Central
Mound, MOC2-260, December 4, 2000.
Image Credit: NASA/JPL/Malin Space Science Systems
Malin Space Science Systems and the California Institute of
Technology built the MOC using spare hardware from the Mars Observer
mission. MSSS operates the camera from its facilities in San Diego,
CA. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory's Mars Surveyor Operations Project
operates the Mars Global Surveyor spacecraft with its industrial
partner, Lockheed Martin Astronautics, from facilities in Pasadena, CA
and Denver, CO.
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