Sediments in Ladon Basin

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.