The question of how the Olympus Mons aureole formed has wide-ranging implications for Mars paleoclimate, including whether a northern ocean existed. The presence or absence of bedded lava within aureole blocks can help test the merits of a competing hypotheses for the aureole’s formation. These blocks are particularly well exposed and appear, in Context Camera images, to contain layered beds of resistant material.

ID: ESP_074065_1990
date: 15 May 2022
altitude: 283 km

https://uahirise.org/hipod/ESP_074065_1990
NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona
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