Climbing Vera Rubin Ridge
Processed image. White-balanced Mastcam mosaic combining 23 frames captured on 22 June 2017 (sol 1734), before Curiosity climbed the ridge. Colours approximate Earth daylight rather than unadjusted Martian lighting.
NASA/JPL image-use policy · credited mission imagery, resized to WebP
· Original image source · Image licenceA ridge becomes a close-up study of layers and erosion.
- World
- Mars
- Case date or period
- 2017–2018 investigation · 2022 image release
Look closer
Before ascending Vera Rubin Ridge, Curiosity photographed its exposed face from below. Closer imaging lets you follow the layering that gives the ridge its visual texture.
Follow the evidence
Compare the distant profile with the micro-imager view and eroded surface details. The same landscape can look massive at one scale and finely laminated at another.
An orbital signal is not an iron inventory
J. L’Haridon and colleagues compared Curiosity’s observations with the ridge’s orbital hematite signature. Hematite was confirmed, but ChemCam and APXS did not find a significant overall increase in total iron relative to the underlying Murray formation. Instead, some dark features concentrated iron beside pale, iron-depleted rock. The team interpreted this as groundwater redistributing iron and recrystallizing it. A strong mineral spectrum can therefore reflect mineral form and grain size as well as bulk abundance.
Drilled samples reveal different fluid histories
Elizabeth Rampe and colleagues analysed four drilled samples on and below the ridge with CheMin X-ray diffraction. Their mineral assemblages and hematite grain sizes differed; coarse grey hematite suggested locally warm fluids, while jarosite and akaganeite indicated some acidic, saline alteration. The authors propose multiple later fluid episodes, with hematite and silica helping cement resistant rock. These mineral clues constrain possible conditions without supplying one measured temperature or a single fluid recipe for the entire ridge.
Sources & further reading
- Curiosity View of 'Vera Rubin Ridge' From Below, Sol 1734 — NASA Image and Video Library / JPL
- Micro-imager View: Layers in 'Vera Rubin Ridge,' Mars — NASA Image and Video Library / JPL
- Erosion Effects on 'Vera Rubin Ridge,' Mars — NASA Image and Video Library / JPL
- Iron Mobility During Diagenesis at Vera Rubin Ridge, Gale Crater, Mars — L’Haridon and colleagues (2020) — Journal of Geophysical Research: Planets / author manuscript on arXiv
- Mineralogy of Vera Rubin Ridge from the Mars Science Laboratory CheMin Instrument — Rampe and colleagues (2020) — NASA NTRS / accepted JGR: Planets manuscript
- Highfield Drill Hole — NASA / JPL Photojournal