Colorful Crater Minerals
This image covers a well-preserved (relatively young) impact crater about 5 kilometers (3 miles) wide. The enhanced-color sample shows that the north-facing slope (on the south side of the crater) has a blue-green color but the south-facing slope has a yellowish color.
The blue-green (infrared-shifted) colors indicate minerals like olivine and pyroxene, common in lava or subsurface intrusions of magma. The yellowish color is typical of hydrous alteration or dust. This crater likely exposed diverse lithologies (rock types) that were present before the crater formed.
Image: NASA/JPL/University of Arizona [high-resolution]
Caption: Alfred McEwen