This image captures inverted streams and a light-toned layered deposit on the plains adjacent to Juventae Chasma.

A dark-toned mantling unit covers much of the light-toned layered deposit, limiting the amount of exposed strata. The exposed layers within these deposits have variations in brightness, color, and erosional properties. Light-toned layered deposits within Juventae do not have these variations. The layering and inverted streams may have once extended further to the east but have been destroyed by continued expansion of Juventae Chasma.

The image also shows that the inverted streams contain light-toned layering. The inverted streams could have formed when less resistant material surrounding the channels differentially eroded to expose the layered sediment that once flowed through the channels. The sediment within the former streams likely became more resistant due to cementation by late fluid circulation.

For information about NASA and agency programs on the Web, visit: http://www.nasa.gov. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, Calif., manages the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington. Lockheed Martin Space Systems is the prime contractor for the project and built the spacecraft. The HiRISE camera was built by Ball Aerospace and Technology Corporation and is operated by the University of Arizona. The image data were processed using the U.S. Geological Survey’s ISIS3 software.