Sol 1815-16, September 14, 2017, update by MSL scientist Abigail Fraeman: Planning for Curiosity this morning was a bit like reading a great mystery novel. There were several twists and turns along the way, but we eventually reached an exciting ending that will reveal “Whodunnit?” – or more accurately — what geologic forces had done to shape this landscape billions of years ago.
The drive yestersol was successful, and placed us in front of one of many meter-scale factures that criss-cross this area. These fractures are visible in high-resolution orbital images, and on the ground are surrounded by raised broken rocks that appear to be slightly more resistant to erosion than their surroundings. We are interested in understanding how these fractures formed, if they were conduits for ancient water, and why the rocks on their edges are raised. We made a quick decision early in the planning day that these rocks were interesting enough to warrant staying here another couple of days to collect good contact science targets, rather than the single touch-and-go we had originally planned… [More at link]