Real Mars, Curiosity Shows Cross Bedded Martian Sandstone

Largescale cross bedding in the sandstone of this ridge on a lower slope of Mars Mount Sharp is common in petrified sand dunes. The scene combines multiple images taken with both cameras of the Mast Camera (Mastcam) on Curiosity on Aug. 27, 2015, during the 1, 087th Martian day, or sol of the rover s work on Mars. It spans from east, at left, to southsouthwest. Figure 1 includes a scale bar of 200 centimeters (about 6. 6 feet). Sets of bedding laminations lie at angles to each other. Such crossbedding is common in winddeposited sandstone of the U. S. Southwest. View example The sandstone in the image from Mars is part of the Stimson unit on Mount Sharp. The color of the Mastcam mosaic has been approximately whitebalanced to resemble how the scene would appear under daytime lighting conditions on Earth. The component images in the center and upper portion of the mosaic are from Mastcam s righteye camera, which is equipped with a 100millimeterfocallength telephoto lens.