Timothy Demko wrote in
:

My first impression of the much-talked-about Meridiani outcrop is that
it looks like a fractured, platey basalt flow, maybe even pahoehoe. In
the upper right hand corner of the PanCam image, right at the edge of
the picture, there are some interesting curvilinear features that look
like a ropey surface. On the other hand, I could also convince myself
that those features also look like an oblique section through very
large-scale trough cross-bedding (i.e. in a sandstone)...which would
be very, very cool if it is!

http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/galle...89114EFF0000P2
303L2M1.JPG

However, the image is of fairly low resolution and zooming in too much
just makes it pixelated, of course. Jim Bell said at the briefing
today (1/26) that much higher resolution images will soon be taken for
the "Mission Success" 360 panorama. Hope they get them into a Maestro
update so we can thrash around in 'em, and have fun coming up with
more unfounded speculation!
--
Tim Demko
http://www.d.umn.edu/~tdemko


If it isn't a basaltic outcrop, it will produce quite a few PhDs! I have
a feeling there is quite a bit of dust in the crevices of the outcrop
which influences your interpretation of cross-bedding (and striation).
The presence of an outcrop right in front of the rover amounts to a near
miracle (of course when we see what's over the crater rim we might
consider the find quite boring).

It will be exciting to check out opportunity's environs over the next few
weeks.

Mark.