This new image from NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) shows layers, probably sedimentary in origin, that have undergone extensive erosion in Shalbatana Valles, a prominent channel that cuts through Xanthe Terra.
This erosion has produced several small mesas and exposed light-toned material that may differ in composition from the surrounding material.
The map is projected here at a scale of 25 centimeters (9.8 inches) per pixel. [The original image scale is 27.5 centimeters (10.8 inches) per pixel (with 1 x 1 binning); objects on the order of 82 centimeters (32.3 inches) across are resolved.] North is up.
The University of Arizona, Tucson, operates HiRISE, which was built by Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp., Boulder, Colorado. NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of Caltech in Pasadena, California, manages the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Project for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate, Washington.
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