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PIA17725: Sediments in Ladon Basin
This observation from NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter shows light-toned layered deposits at the contact between the Ladon Valles channel and Ladon Basin.
 Target Name:  Mars
 Is a satellite of:  Sol (our sun)
 Mission:  Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) 
 Spacecraft:  Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO)
 Instrument:  HiRISE 
 Product Size:  2880 x 1800 pixels (w x h) 
 Produced By:  University of Arizona/HiRISE-LPL 
 Other  
Information: 		 Other products from image ESP_032297_1595 
 Full-Res TIFF:  PIA17725.tif (15.56 MB)
 Full-Res JPEG:  PIA17725.jpg (882.9 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:

This image shows light-toned layered deposits at the contact between the Ladon Valles channel and Ladon Basin.

These deposits could either be fluvial sediments transported along Ladon Valles when water carved out this channel, or they could be sediments deposited in Ladon Basin, perhaps when a lake existed here. Some of these light-toned deposits have mineral signatures consistent with clays, indicating favorable water conditions for life.

HiRISE is one of six instruments on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. The University of Arizona, Tucson, operates the orbiter's HiRISE camera, which was built by Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp., Boulder, Colo. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Project for the NASA Science Mission Directorate, Washington.

Image Credit:
NASA/JPL-Caltech/Univ. of Arizona

Image Addition Date:
2013-07-10