These banded features, located near the boundary between Northeast Meridiani and Arabia Terra, were targeted at the request of the Context Camera (CTX) team in order to constrain their origin.

Are they terraces? Expressions of layered rock? “Shorelines?” Impact ejecta features?

The higher resolution available to HiRISE, which will allow us to distinguish features such as bedding characteristics as well as erosional and depositional relations, will allow us to address these hypotheses.

Written by: HiRISE Science Team   (14 September 2011)

More info and image formats at http://hirise.lpl.arizona.edu/ESP_023144_1850

Image: NASA/JPL/University of Arizona