See this post from Stu's excellent 'Road To Endeavour' blog....
http://roadtoendeavour.wordpress.com/2011/...g-to-cape-york/

Craig

For the hard core data geeks (of which I am not one), The below paper describes in detail Spirit's evidence for phyllosilicates in Gusev.

Evidence of phyllosilicates in Wooly Patch, an altered rock encountered at West Spur, Columbia Hills, by the Spirit rover in Gusev crater, Mars
"On its traverse to Columbia Hills, the Mars Exploration Rover Spirit investigated an outcrop designated ''Wooly Patch'' .... The major-element composition and Fe-mineralogy, as determined by the Alpha-Particle X-ray Spectrometer and Mossbauer Spectrometer, are inconsistent with any reasonable assemblage of basaltic minerals in that there is an excess of Si and Al. The combined data are best explained by the presence of 14–17% phyllosilicate minerals."

It will be interesting to see how Opportunity's evidence for phyllosilicates at Endeavour matches up. Minus the Mossbauer data of course.

Having briefly surrendered the dancefloor it to her big, sexier sister, Oppy is definitely jumping back into the spotlight as she advances upon some fascinating geology at Cape York. Some gorgeous rock formations here, and some fascinating science to come too, I'm sure...

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Colour view of the rocks around Oppy now - just a simple 4,5,6 combo; no magic spells, SKYNET supercomputer or goat sacrifices needed to make it from the raw images...

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Can't wait to see what Oppy does here!

I had already started to hope, and your anaglyph increases my anticipation, that these outcrops could be (at last) the everted crater rim strata we were expecting to see (but didn't) at Morris Hill. If this is the material the clays originate from then there could be a sub-Crism-resolution patch of clays right here.

What bends my mind is how we could differentiate between ballistically emplaced Endeavour impact ejecta / condensate and uplift rim, which would be the Miyamoto ejecta field materiel. Even if we can identify clays did they develop within the rim or were they formed in the pre Endeavour impact environment?

Precisely the quandry here, Serpens. This area has a complex and long history running from the Noachian to the present. Starting out as extrusive basalts (and possibly intrusive gabbros) the surface has been modified by impact and other erosive processes, chemically and physically weathered, transported by fluvial and aeolian processes and the resulting mix has been subjected to secondary lithogenesis. Endeavout Crater is a recent event in a long line of continuing processes. Without a decent geologic cross-section here we need to be very clever and make good assumptions. I think that the James Wray paper noted by centsworthII a couple of posts up is a good beginning.

I'm glad to see taht Oppy is taking a look at these shiny features, outcrops, beds, lithologies and lineations that we've been drooling over since we left the Whim feature. The very name "Half Fin" (P2402) is intriguing...

--Bill

A hazcam shot from sol 3051. Besides the wonderful shadow, it looks like the right-front wheel was used to plow up the soil.

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Edit: just noticed that it plowed through a vein, kicking up some of the bright rocks.

I don't think it was intentional. This happens because the RF steer actuator is locked and when we do a turn in place clockwise the RF wheel plows the soil with the outside wall. When we turn counterclockwise the RF wheel scoops soil in the wheel well. We used to limit turn in place turns because of that, apparently they don't anymore.

Paolo

These are the droids you've been looking for.