Geologic History Revealed in Valles Marineris

An enhanced-color image from NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) reveals bedrock that is several kilometers below the top of the giant Valles Marineris canyons.

The upper layers have relatively little diversity of colors and textures, but deeper levels show more complex processes. The upper layers could be mostly volcanic while the lower layers were influenced by the period of heavy bombardment and greater interactions with water.

This is a stereo pair with ESP_013362_1710.

The map is projected here at a scale of 25 centimeters (9.8 inches) per pixel. [The original image scale is 26.6 centimeters (10.4 inches) per pixel (with 1 x 1 binning); objects on the order of 80 centimeters (31.5 inches) across are resolved.] North is up.

The University of Arizona, Tucson, operates HiRISE, which was built by Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp., Boulder, Colorado. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of Caltech in Pasadena, California, manages the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Project for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington.