At Echo Creek, we're conducting both long distance and close-up measurements. Visible in the distance, Belva Crater has an interesting depth to diameter ratio compared to other Martian craters, as it is shallower than expected. The crater walls also appear to have been breached.
Is the crater infilled, or were the rims eroded down? Were the crater walls breached by water, or ice? Our science team hopes to answer these questions by taking a closer look at the crater walls from our vantage point.
As for Echo Creek itself, we see in orbital imagery that the rocks are a brighter color than those surrounding them, and also that they exhibit an interesting polygonal fracturing pattern.
These rocks may be similar to those that form the 'marginal fractured unit', which has a number of hypothesized origins ranging from sedimentary to volcanic. However, they could instead be the same kind of rock that we found at Tenby, known as the curvilinear unit. Our closer inspection of Echo Creek will help us to distinguish between these different hypotheses.
Whether the rocks at Echo Creek prove to be the same as those we've already seen, or something new, we are approaching the end of our Upper Fan campaign and will soon begin our exploration of the marginal units. As we climb up the fan, our horizons continue to expand. Having recently celebrated its first Martian birthday, Perseverance shows no signs of slowing down!
Related Links
Perseverance Mars 2020
Mars News and Information at MarsDaily.com
Lunar Dreams and more
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