Large areas of exposed bedrock

While Mars is a dusty planet overall, TES mapped numerous places where nighttime ground temperatures indicate bare rock or hardened sediments essentially free of dust and sand.

TES discovered large areas of exposed bedrock. While Mars is a dusty planet overall, TES mapped numerous places where nighttime ground temperatures indicate bare rock or hardened sediments essentially free of dust and sand.

The Thermal Emission Spectrometer (TES) spotted regions of Mars that had relatively warm overnight temperatures, suggesting they were wholly or largely free of blanketing dust. This image shows where TES saw rockier areas (reddish tones) and dustier ones (purple).

References

  • Christensen, P.R., J.L. Bandfield, J.F. Bell, III, N. Gorelick, V.E. Hamilton, A. Ivanov, B.M. Jakosky, H.H. Kieffer, M.D. Lane, M.C. Malin, G.L. Mehall, T. McConnochie, A.S. McEwen, H.Y. McSween, Jr., J.E. Moersch, K.H. Nealson, J.W. Rice, Jr., M.I. Richardson, S.W. Ruff, M.D. Smith, T.N.Titus, and W. Wyatt, Morphology and composition of the surface of Mars: Mars Odyssey THEMIS results, Science, 300, 2056-2061, 2003.
  • Rogers, A.D., P.R.Christensen, and J.L. Bandfield, Compositional heterogeneity of the ancient martian crust: Analysis of Ares Vallis bedrock with THEMIS and TES data, J. Geophys. Res., 110, E05010, doi:10.1029/2005JE002399, 2005.