I had a good chat with Nathalie Cabrol today at the conference. She said that they are finding more than just basalt in the debris that is filling Gusev crater. The model is that a chaotic flow dumped unsorted material into the basin, much of which was basaltic anyway. This was covered by a thin veneer of “local” volcanics, then the whole thing has been stirred-up by impacts. The result is a bit of a mess, and apparently there wasn’t enough time for decent bedded sediments to form in the short-lived lake.

Nathalie suggested that some of the “pellets” are original products of the flow, grinding basalt down to small spheroids and depositing them in imbricate (shingled) layers.

I’m not sure I believe the last bit about the pellets, but the jumbled mess story is a good one – it matches what Ross Irwin suggested yesterday over lunch about the fill of Gusev being brief and furious.

There should be some good stuff Tuesday arvo when the Rover teams report. Standing room only in the hall, I expect…