Goulburn, also known as Goulburn Scour, is a
rock outcrop
An outcrop or rocky outcrop is a visible exposure of bedrock or ancient superficial deposits on the surface of the Earth.
Features
Outcrops do not cover the majority of the Earth's land surface because in most places the bedrock or superficia ...
on the surface of
Aeolis Palus, between
Peace Vallis and
Aeolis Mons ("Mount Sharp"), in
Gale crater
Gale is a crater, and probable dry lake, at in the northwestern part of the Aeolis quadrangle on Mars. It is in diameter and estimated to be about 3.5–3.8 billion years old. The crater was named after Walter Frederick Gale, an amateur ast ...
on the planet
Mars
Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun and the second-smallest planet in the Solar System, only being larger than Mercury. In the English language, Mars is named for the Roman god of war. Mars is a terrestrial planet with a thin at ...
.
The outcrop was encountered by the
''Curiosity'' rover on landing at the
Bradbury Landing
Bradbury Landing is the August 6, 2012, landing site within Gale crater on planet Mars of the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) ''Curiosity'' rover. On August 22, 2012, on what would have been his 92nd birthday, NASA named the site for author Ra ...
on August 6, 2012 (the 1st
sol of the mission) and is named after a two-billion year-old sequence of rocks in
Northern Canada. The "approximate" site coordinates are: .
The outcrop is a
well-sorted gravel conglomerate, containing well-rounded, smooth,
abraded pebbles. Occasional pebbles up to a few centimeters across are embedded in amongst a
matrix
Matrix most commonly refers to:
* ''The Matrix'' (franchise), an American media franchise
** ''The Matrix'', a 1999 science-fiction action film
** "The Matrix", a fictional setting, a virtual reality environment, within ''The Matrix'' (franchis ...
of finer rounded particles, up to a centimeter across. It has been interpreted as a
fluvial sediment
Sediment is a naturally occurring material that is broken down by processes of weathering and erosion, and is subsequently transported by the action of wind, water, or ice or by the force of gravity acting on the particles. For example, sa ...
, deposited by a vigorously flowing stream, probably between ankle and waist deep. This stream is part of an ancient
alluvial fan
An alluvial fan is an accumulation of sediments that fans outwards from a concentrated source of sediments, such as a narrow canyon emerging from an escarpment. They are characteristic of mountainous terrain in arid to semiarid climates, but a ...
, which descends from the steep terrain at the rim of Gale crater across its floor.
Gallery
Image:PIA16157-MarsCuriosityRover-GoulburnLinkHottah-20120927.jpg, ''"Goulburn"'', ''" Link"'' and ''" Hottah"'' rock outcrops - suggest "vigorously" flowing water in an ancient streambed (September 27, 2012).
Image:PIA16067-MarsCuriosityRover-GoulburnBedrock-20120817.jpg, ''"Goulburn"'' rock outcrop
An outcrop or rocky outcrop is a visible exposure of bedrock or ancient superficial deposits on the surface of the Earth.
Features
Outcrops do not cover the majority of the Earth's land surface because in most places the bedrock or superficia ...
on Mars - near the landing site ("Bradbury Landing
Bradbury Landing is the August 6, 2012, landing site within Gale crater on planet Mars of the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) ''Curiosity'' rover. On August 22, 2012, on what would have been his 92nd birthday, NASA named the site for author Ra ...
") of the ''Curiosity'' rover (August 17, 2012).
Image:PIA16187-MarsCuriosityRover-Goulburn-20120819.jpg, "Goulburn" rock outcrop
An outcrop or rocky outcrop is a visible exposure of bedrock or ancient superficial deposits on the surface of the Earth.
Features
Outcrops do not cover the majority of the Earth's land surface because in most places the bedrock or superficia ...
on Mars - an ancient streambedrock outcrop
An outcrop or rocky outcrop is a visible exposure of bedrock or ancient superficial deposits on the surface of the Earth.
Features
Outcrops do not cover the majority of the Earth's land surface because in most places the bedrock or superficia ...
on Mars - Close-up (August 17, 2012).
See also
*
Aeolis quadrangle
The Aeolis quadrangle is one of a series of 30 quadrangle maps of Mars used by the United States Geological Survey (USGS) Astrogeology Research Program. The Aeolis quadrangle is also referred to as MC-23 (Mars Chart-23).
The Aeolis quadrangle c ...
*
Bedrock
*
Composition of Mars
The composition of Mars covers the branch of the geology of Mars that describes the make-up of the planet Mars.
Elemental composition
Mars is differentiated, which—for a terrestrial planet—implies that it has a central core made up of me ...
*
Geology of Mars
The geology of Mars is the scientific study of the surface, crust, and interior of the planet Mars. It emphasizes the composition, structure, history, and physical processes that shape the planet. It is analogous to the field of terrestrial geo ...
*
Hottah (Mars)
*
Link (Mars)
*
List of rocks on Mars
This is an alphabetical list of named rocks (and meteorites) found on Mars, by mission. This list is a sampling of rocks viewed, and is not an exhaustive listing. A more complete listing may be found on the various NASA mission web sites. This lis ...
*
Rock outcrop
An outcrop or rocky outcrop is a visible exposure of bedrock or ancient superficial deposits on the surface of the Earth.
Features
Outcrops do not cover the majority of the Earth's land surface because in most places the bedrock or superficia ...
*
Timeline of Mars Science Laboratory
The Mars Science Laboratory and its rover, ''Curiosity'', were launched from Earth on November 26, 2011. As of , , ''Curiosity'' has been on the planet Mars for sols ( total days; ') since landing on August 6, 2012. ''(See Current statu ...
*
Water on Mars
Almost all water on Mars today exists as ice, though it also exists in small quantities as vapor in the atmosphere. What was thought to be low-volume liquid brines in shallow Martian soil, also called recurrent slope lineae, may be grains of ...
References
External links
''Curiosity'' Rover - Official SiteNASA - Mars Exploration Program
Volcanic rock classification
Video (04:32) - Evidence: Water "Vigorously" Flowed On Mars - September, 2012
Aeolis quadrangle
Mars Science Laboratory
Rocks on Mars
{{Mars-stub