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PIA15099: Sulfates and Clays in Columbus Crater, Mars
Sulfates are found overlying clay minerals in sediments within Columbus Crater, a depression that likely hosted a lake in the past in this image based on information from NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter.
 Target Name:  Mars
 Is a satellite of:  Sol (our sun)
 Mission:  Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) 
 Spacecraft:  Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO)
 Instrument:  CRISM 
CTX 
 Product Size:  857 x 517 pixels (w x h) 
 Produced By:  Malin Space Science Systems 
 Full-Res TIFF:  PIA15099.tif (1.331 MB)
 Full-Res JPEG:  PIA15099.jpg (97.63 kB)  

Click on the image above to download a moderately sized image in JPEG format (possibly reduced in size from original)

Original Caption Released with Image:

Sulfates are found overlying clay minerals in sediments within Columbus Crater, a depression that likely hosted a lake in the past. Sulfate salt deposits ring the crater like a bathtub ring and were deposited after the clays, as the lake dried out. The image combines information from two instruments on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, the Compact Reconnaissance Imaging Spectrometer for Mars and the Context Camera. (Reference: Wray et al., 2011.)

Image Credit:
NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS/JHU-APL

Image Addition Date:
2011-11-21