The Plains are Not Plain

This image from NASA Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter spacecraft covers some of the plains south of Capri Chasma in eastern Valles Marineris.

This image from NASA Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter spacecraft covers some of the plains south of Capri Chasma in eastern Valles Marineris. Where the aeolian (wind-blown) sedimentary cover has been stripped away, we see diverse colors indicative of of a variety of altered minerals formed in Mars' wetter past. http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA20730