SPECTRAL STRATIGRAPHY OF VICTORIA CRATER, MERIDIANI PLANUM, MARS: COMPARISON OF OPPORTUNITY PANCAM VNIR MULTISPECTRAL DATA WITH ORBITAL DATASETS

From approximately sol 952 to 1634 of its mission, the Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity explored the approximately 800 m diameter Victoria crater. Multispectral imaging of the inner walls of the crater from positions on its outer rim and from within the crater showed distinct color bands on in situ layers within the crater walls. The crater was formed in the sulfate-rich layered clastic Meridiani Planum bedrock which Opportunity has been exploring since its landing in January 2004. 13-filter visible to near-infrared (VNIR) multispectral imaging of subsections of the crater walls along with broader swaths of the crater walls imaged in 4-filter mosaics are being compared with orbital three color data collected by the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) HiRISE camera and (0.33 m/pixel resolution) and 17 m/pixel full resolution targeted (FRT) observations by the hyperspectral MRO CRISM sensor. These color bands are expressed best on lower angle slopes of the walls of Victoria crater and are in some places masked by mass-wasted debris. The multispectral characteristics of these bands correspond to previously characterized outcrop exposures from the Meridiani plains and the smaller Endurance crater explored earlier in the mission. The colors were used as a guide to delineate the uppermost “Steno”, “Smith”, and “Lyell” units examined with Opportunity’s in-situ analysis instruments. We will describe the nature of these color bands, their extent with the inner walls of Victoria, and evidence for whether these colors are associated with primary or diagenetic minerals.