...catches my eye.
While I agree fully on the cross beds on the massive middle unit, the thinly bedded unit at the base of the outcrop appears to be a different facies to me, with a fairly irregular contact. Interesting look to the beds; they are not planer from some of the navecam views, sort of lose the detail in the combined images, sort of a concave lenticular structure...
The lower unit deserves a look-see. I'm looking around to see if it crops out at the base of any of the other outcrops. New new orbital images might have a difficult time answering this question as the unit tends to undercut the outcrop, making it hard to pick out from above. The side views are great, if I see a notch, the thinly-bedded unit is probably there. But I'm not seeing it in other outcrops. (I'll admit....I've not spent a whole lotta time looking at raws....) So it might be now, or never, to see this unit, despite my earlier suggestions to rove 'round the edge a bit. If I can't convince myself that I might see it in a more favorable location, I'd try it here. Gotta go where the rocks are.
On the way I might pass over one of Nick's 'bathtub rings'. They might show a periodicity to the acid alteration. Times where the wind deposits exceed the saturation of the sediment pile by acidic fluids, followed by periods of the reverse, where the 'acid table' dominates: holding the dunes down, altering the clasts, making blue-berries, evaporating in shallow pools, only to pull back due to orbital cycles, giving way to a dry, frozen wind enviroment.....
(I do have fun pretending I'm there, armwaving while sitting at a nice view spot.)
Haven't had the time to look at unmannedspaceflight.com for a while. Any images there that enhance that lower unit?
Space/Science » in reply to re: What are crossbeds?
the lower unit...
