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Published August 6, 2004 | public
Journal Article

Surficial Deposits at Gusev Crater Along Spirit Rover Traverses

Abstract

The Mars Exploration Rover Spirit has traversed a fairly flat, rock-strewn terrain whose surface is shaped primarily by impact events, although some of the landscape has been altered by eolian processes. Impacts ejected basaltic rocks that probably were part of locally formed lava flows from at least 10 meters depth. Some rocks have been textured and/or partially buried by windblown sediments less than 2 millimeters in diameter that concentrate within shallow, partially filled, circular impact depressions referred to as hollows. The terrain traversed during the 90-sol (martian solar day) nominal mission shows no evidence for an ancient lake in Gusev crater.

Additional Information

© 2004 American Association for the Advancement of Science. Received 3 May 2004; accepted 28 June 2004. Research was supported by NASA through the Mars Exploration Rover Project. Our sincere thanks go to the Mars Exploration Rover management, staff, and engineering teams for their outstanding support and operation of Spirit.

Additional details

Created:
August 19, 2023
Modified:
October 19, 2023