Take a closer look at Holden Crater! NASA shares the pic

Photo Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Univ. of Arizona

New Delhi: The US space agency NASA has shared a clear view of the Holden Crater in southern Margaritifer Terra displaying a series of finely layered deposits on its floor.

According to NASA, the layered deposits are especially well exposed in the southwestern section of the crater where erosion by water flowing through a breach in the crater rim created spectacular outcrops.

As per reports, the deposits appear beneath a cap of alluvial fan materials. Within the deposits, individual layers are nearly flat-lying and can be traced for hundreds of meters to kilometers. The information from the CRISM instrument on the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter suggests that at least some of these beds contain clays.

By contrast, the beds in the overlying alluvial fan are less continuous and dip in varying directions, showing less evidence for clays.

Collectively, the characteristics of the finely bedded deposits suggest they may have been deposited into a lake on the crater floor, perhaps fed by runoff related to formation of the overlying fans.