This small ridge, about 3 feet (1 meter) long, appears to resist wind erosion more than the flatter plates around it. Such differences are among the rock characteristics that NASA's Curiosity Mars rover is examining at selected targets at the base of Mount Sharp.
The ridge pictured here, called "Pink Cliffs," is within the "Pahrump Hills" outcrop forming part of the basal layer of the mountain. This view is a mosaic of exposures acquired by Curiosity's Mast Camera (Mastcam) shortly before a two-week walkabout up the outcrop, scouting to select which targets to examine in greater detail during a second pass.
Pink Cliffs is one of the targets chosen for closer inspection. This image combines several frames taken with the Mastcam on October 7, 2014, the 771st Martian day, or sol of Curiosity's work on Mars. The color has been approximately white-balanced to resemble how the scene would appear under daytime lighting conditions on Earth.
Figure 1 is a version with a scale bar overlaid on the image.
An image showing the Pahrump Hills walkabout route is at PIA19039. An overhead map showing the walkabout drives, from Sol 780 (Oct. 16) to Sol 794 (Oct. 30) is at http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl/images/Curiosity_Location_Sol803-full.jpg.
Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS
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