by neufer » Sun Jun 06, 2021 2:09 pm
DGH wrote: ↑Sun Jun 06, 2021 12:59 pm
This looks like sedimentary rock.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Sharp wrote:
<<
Mount Sharp, officially Aeolis Mons, appears to be an enormous mound of eroded sedimentary layers sitting on the central peak of Gale. It rises 5.5 km above the northern crater floor and 4.5 km above the southern crater floor, higher than the southern crater rim. The sediments may have been laid down over an interval of 2 billion years, and may have once completely filled the crater. Some of the lower sediment layers may have originally been deposited on a lake bed, while observations of possibly cross-bedded strata in the upper mound suggest aeolian processes. However, this issue is debated, and the origin of the lower layers remains unclear. If katabatic wind deposition played the predominant role in the emplacement of the sediments, as suggested by reported 3 degree radial slopes of the mound's layers, erosion would have come into play largely to place an upper limit on the mound's growth.
On October 8, 2015, NASA confirmed that lakes and streams existed in Gale crater 3.3 - 3.8 billion years ago delivering sediments to build up the lower layers of Mount Sharp. On February 1, 2019, NASA scientists reported that Curiosity had determined, for the first time, the density of Mount Sharp in Gale crater, thereby establishing a clearer understanding of how the mountain was formed.>>
[quote=DGH post_id=313964 time=1622984399]
This looks like sedimentary rock.[/quote][quote=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Sharp]
<<[b][u][color=#0000FF]Mount Sharp, officially Aeolis Mons, appears to be an enormous mound of eroded sedimentary layers sitting on the central peak of Gale.[/color][/u][/b] It rises 5.5 km above the northern crater floor and 4.5 km above the southern crater floor, higher than the southern crater rim. The sediments may have been laid down over an interval of 2 billion years, and may have once completely filled the crater. Some of the lower sediment layers may have originally been deposited on a lake bed, while observations of possibly cross-bedded strata in the upper mound suggest aeolian processes. However, this issue is debated, and the origin of the lower layers remains unclear. If katabatic wind deposition played the predominant role in the emplacement of the sediments, as suggested by reported 3 degree radial slopes of the mound's layers, erosion would have come into play largely to place an upper limit on the mound's growth.
On October 8, 2015, NASA confirmed that lakes and streams existed in Gale crater 3.3 - 3.8 billion years ago delivering sediments to build up the lower layers of Mount Sharp. On February 1, 2019, NASA scientists reported that Curiosity had determined, for the first time, the density of Mount Sharp in Gale crater, thereby establishing a clearer understanding of how the mountain was formed.>>[/quote]