The question of how the Olympus Mons aureole formed has wide-ranging implications for Mars paleoclimate, including whether a northern ocean existed. The properties of the resistant material exposed within aureole blocks can help test the merits of competing hypotheses for the aureole’s formation. Context Camera images show a number of blocks with good outcrops of horizontally layered resistant material.

ID: ESP_075502_2110
date: 4 September 2022
altitude: 289 km

https://uahirise.org/hipod/ESP_075502_2110
NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona
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