Actually the view is Mt. Shields - the wheels are on Logan's Run. Not sure about accessibility but these are nicely differentiated outcrop layers.

Yes... the new USGS blog gives us the details. I'm hoping for one of Fred Calef's nice maps annotated with placenames to give me some more certainty about other names.

Phil

You may not have to wait too long, Fred has been tweeting this seek as astrotweeps... Here is a little preview he gave https://twitter.com/astrotweeps/status/592755331815624705

If asked where to take samples along the direction marked by the dark red line in this annotated crop
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of the file mars-rover-curiosity-msl-traverse-map-10k-drive-Sol957-PIA18390-br2.jpg (full-res here) - given limited ressources - to test linear models of the Washboard unit, I'd prefere points far apart in terms of projections onto the coordinate axis of interest, since interpolation is most sensitive to the lower and upper bound of the considered interval:
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So under the aspect to find out a trend roughly along the marked dark red line in the annotated crop above, the decision to look at Logan's Run/Mt. Shields makes sense, without knowing whether this consideration has actually been part of the decision process.

"You may not have to wait too long, Fred has been tweeting....."

Excellent, thanks! Just using that I have been able to fix and add to my map, so there is an updated route map today.

Phil

Sol 967 NavCam images cropped as an anaglyph.



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Another Sol967 NavCam anaglyph, showing how stoney it is around here. Hopefully lots of soft sandy soil to push them into.




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Sol969 FHaz anaglyph.


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With reference to post #626, I noticed that the right 55% or so of the image is predominantly sand and the left mostly stoney.

I kind of assumed that it was to do with the prominance of the rocky outcrops catching wind blown grains, and therefore defining some sort of boundary, would this be correct?

..you probably mean post#256? if so id assume the opposite cause, sand dunes likely indicating the prevailing wind patterns with the leeward side of the ridge where the sand collects atop the otherwise similar stony terrain sourced from the windy side where it is blown relatively quickly off of over to the leeward side. in any case the question remains how long has it taken for this to accumulate?

sol 969, 6x3 R-MastCam mosaic of a section of the "Mt. Shields" outcrop.

This mosaic is mentioned in the latest USGS Mission Update "Sol 969-970: Studying Mt. Shields" LINK

A foreset bed of a Gilbert delta?

Possible, but there are several depositional environments that can have inclined bedding. This is just an isolated small outcrop. I'd probably want to see more of the package (e.g., a complete sandwich including horizontal topset beds on top and bottomset beds underneath) before arriving at such a hypothesis.
dburt

Pebble going for a ride:

Partial left navcam pano of the arrival at the Mt Shields outcrop.

Partial Navcam L view on Sol 971.

Jan van Driel

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Reminds me of Spirit in Eagle Crater .

and here is the complete view on Sol 971.

Jan van Driel

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I don't think Spirit made it quite that far around the planet...

Fred,
it took me a couple of seconds, but that was pretty funny....

The way things are turning out, I think it would be more likely to see Opportunity in Gusev Crater.... where it could nudge Spirit back into life, and then they can travel to Eagle Crater together.

Who's on Home Plate?

Delicate layering at Mt Shields - sol 971 L-MastCam

USGS Curiosity Mission Update from Ken Herkenhoff : Sol 973-975: Albert, Bigfork, and Charity

Drive direction? mast camera mosaic looking SSE, sol 971. Maybe for when they finish up at Mt Shields?

A circular view of the current location on sol 971, from Jan's panorama.

Phil

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Locations identified for 2 of the recent ChemCam-RMI targets at Mt Shields (R-MastCam 969, RMI's 970 & 971)

Here 2 last our anaphyphs

sol 964


and sol 969

Those layers "look" extremely delicate.

Amateur Question: Would the arm or turret ever be used to try and break some of these rock layers (maybe by preloading the drill against it, for example)? Would there be any science gained from such an action (maybe to see the inside of a rock or measure shear strength)?

Just wondering, thanks.

Absolutely not the arm! It's full of delicate equipment. But the wheels sometimes break rocks as they drive over them (Curiosity in Yellowknife Bay at Snake, for instance, or Opportunity at Pinnacle Island) and sometimes it's even done deliberately to create a fresh surface for analysis.

Phil

ChemCam-RMI target from sol 973. I'm not sure if it is "Albert" or "Charity"

It must be Charity, because according to the USGS blog Albert will be the site of DRT brushing later... and they would never brush that flimsy thing.

Phil

Nicely deduced Phil... "Once you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains, no matter how improbable, must be the truth."

Sol 953 R-MastCam, raw and stretched versions.

Full size LINK

Some of the crêpe-like laminae have also been beneath the rover on Sol 972, here a MARDI image processed by "dust-decoating", color modification (applying color-correction for Mastcam images), and linearization (squaring raw color values) :

Some MC34 and MC100 mosaics of Artist's Drive valley which were downloaded lately:

North side of Artist's Drive valley with MC100 and MC34 on sol 950:


Southeast side of Artist's Drive valley with MC34 on sol 950:


Northwest side of Artist's Drive valley with MC34 on sol 951:


Tucki Mountain on southeast side of Artist's Valley with MC34 on sol 951:

It looks like a few shots of the ChemCam laser could bore a hole clear through one of those plates.

Telescopic RMI imaging the distant target named 'Empire'

LINK

Roughly stitched overlapping MAHLI's from sol 974 (Mt Shields)

LINK

This is the location of Empire on a Navcam frame - it is south east of the rover.

Phil

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An anaglyph from two focus merged MAHLI images from Sol974




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Panorama of the base of Mt Sharp and Grey Wolf Peak taken with MC100 on sol 952:


A close-up on the hills and canyons of Mt Sharp. I'm looking forward to see Curiosity driving in this region!

Hopefully the wheels can make it

That valley up the middle in the distance looks so similar to the Devils Corkscrew coming up out of the Grand Canyon! Awesome.

Question on Colors: Ive noticed several of the images were the sky has blue-ish tones, but recently the sky is very orange, is it just different angles/time of day, or is the color processing different? It doesnt seem like a dust storm because you can see so far and details on the hills that are 10-20 miles away, maybe upper atmosphere dust?

I'm reminded of the area around Moab, Utah. I can imagine the Slickrock Trail on the light-toned stuff.

Dave
Martian sky color has be much discussed here in dozens if not hundreds of threads and you can find out a lot by searching and reading. Orange is usual--close to what we would see if there--blue shows up in color stretched images and some sunsets. Skies are only blue on Mars if you are in a spacecraft above a high percentage of the atmosphere...

I believe that's Navajo sandstone, and it erodes into domes in a number of places, like the San Rafael Swell and Capitol Reef. My own photo looking off the swell. Always think of that when I see Mt. Sharp.

The Navajo ss. is amazing, magical stuff.

USGS Curiosity Mission Update from Ken Herkenhoff "Sols 976-977: Onward to Jocko Butte"

As fragile as the laminae look from a distance, they seem to be much more abrasion resistant than the soft rock at Pahrump: No trace of a scratch from the DRT.