Layers in Aureum Chaos

Explanation: At first glance these undulating shapes in shades of blue mightlook like waveson an ocean.Seen here in a false-color image from theMars ReconnaissanceOrbiter'sHiRISE camera, theyare actually layered rock outcrops found in Aureum Chaos.The larger Aureum Chaos region is achaotic jumble of eroded terrain in the eastern part of Mars' immensecanyon Valles Marineris.Distinctlayers composing these outcrops could have beenlaid down by dust or volcanic ash settling from theatmosphere, sand carried by martian winds,or sediments deposited on the floor of an ancient lake.Thisclose-up view of the otherwise red planet spansabout 4 kilometers, a distance you mightwalk over flat ground in less than an hour.
摘自APOD

                               
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