Bedrock North of Terby Crater

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Caption:

Map Projected Browse Image
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This image samples the excellent bedrock exposures north of Terby Crater, which lies on the northern rim of the giant Hellas basin.

An enhanced-color cutout shows a sample of this bedrock, which has a variety of colors and textures. The warm-colored bedrock probably contains hydrated minerals such as clays, whereas the blue-green bedrock is dominated by unaltered mafic minerals. These may be some of the oldest rocks exposed at the Martian surface. Such ancient rocks are extremely rare on Earth.

Background Info:

The University of Arizona, Tucson, operates HiRISE, 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 NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington.

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