Image Credit: NASA/JPL/ASU

Context image credit: NASA/JPL/MOLA
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Although well to the northeast of the hematite-bearing unit in Meridiani Planum (the landing site of the Opportunity rover), this THEMIS visible image offers a stunning landscape, and clues regarding the possible history of water in this area. Most noticeable, of course, is the large dark unit in the center of the image. This unit clearly embays the underlying terrain, implying that it was somehow subsequently deposited on top of it. This same unit can be seen in a crater just south of the main body. It is hard to tell if water definitely laid down this unit, but an aqueous mechanism could certainly be implied, especially since the large body of hematite, which most likely formed in the presence of water, is present close by.