{ "title": "The Gemstone Floor of Noctis Labyrinthus", "authors": "HiRISE", "metadata": { "thumbnailURL": "https://static.uahirise.org/anews/2020-07-28/ESP_023359_1710.jpg", "excerpt": "The smooth light-toned deposits on the floor of Noctis Labyrinthus may contain opal." }, "version": "1.5", "identifier": "ESP_023359_1710", "language": "en", "layout": { "columns": 10, "width": 1024, "margin": 85, "gutter": 20 }, "documentStyle": { "backgroundColor": "#faf7f2" }, "components": [ { "role": "heading1", "layout": "heading1Layout", "text": "HiPOD: 28 July 2020" }, { "role": "divider", "layout": "bigDividerLayout", "stroke": { "width": 3, "color": "#8c2028" } }, { "role": "title", "layout": "halfMarginBelowLayout", "text": "The Gemstone Floor of Noctis Labyrinthus" }, { "role": "photo", "layout": "fullBleedLayout", "caption": "An enhanced color cutout. Less than 1 km across. (NASA/JPL/UArizona)", "URL": "https://static.uahirise.org/anews/2020-07-28/ESP_023359_1710.jpg" }, { "role": "body", "format": "html", "layout": "hipodMarginLayout", "text": "
The smooth light-toned deposits on the floor of Noctis Labyrinthus, a series of depressions at the westernmost end of Valles Marineris, may contain a form of hydrated silica, perhaps opal, which is a gemstone.
The opal could have formed by chemical weathering of basaltic lava flows or volcanic ash in the presence of water. Also visible in the left side of the enhanced-color subimage are sand dunes with two colors, perhaps due to dark sand covered in places by bright reddish dust, and an impact crater with dark ejecta.
ID: ESP_023359_1710
date: 21 July 2011
altitude: 256 km
NASA/JPL/UArizona