Rock composition in Ius Chasma canyon

The image taken on 5 May 2020 shows a part of the floor of the Ius Chasma canyon, part of the Valles Marines system of canyons that stretches nearly a quarter of the circumference of Mars south of the planet's equator. The Ius Chasma canyon, which can be seen in the image rising up to a ridge on the right side, is about 1000 km long and up to 8 km deep,  which makes it more than twice as long and four times as deep as the famous Grand Canyon in the US state of Arizona. The centre of this image is located at 8.8°S, 282.5°E.

The beautiful colour variations across the floor of Ius Chasma are caused by changes in rock composition. Scientists theorise that the light rocks are salts left behind after an ancient lake evaporated. The information about the rock's composition is useful to scientists as it allows them to retrace the formation history of the canyon.