When viewed from the ground, the curved layers are arranged in rows, and appear to ripple out across the landscape. Scientists are now debating what kind of powerfully flowing water formed those curves: a river like the Mississippi, which winds snakelike across the landscape, or a braided river like Nebraska's Platte, which forms small islands of sediment called sandbars. 'Skrinkle Haven' offers the clearest example of these curved rock layers – called 'the curvilinear unit' – that had previously only been seen from space.

This natural color view is approximately how the scene would appear to an average person if they were on Mars.įigure A is an enhanced color view that exaggerates subtle color differences in the scene. The mosaic is made up of 203 individual images that were stitched together after being sent back from Mars. 28 and Ma(between the 721st and 729th Martian days, or sols, of the mission). NASA's Perseverance Mars rover captured this mosaic at a location nicknamed 'Skrinkle Haven' using its Mastcam-Z camera between Feb. Scientists think that the bands of rocks seen in this image may have been formed by a very fast, deep river – the first of its kind evidence has been found for on Mars. Main image - maximum resolution version, 44289 x 16000 pixels (181 MB)įigure A image - maximum resolution version, 44289 x 16000 pixels (256 MB)

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