Stratigraphy and Evolution of Delta Channel Deposits, Jezero Crater, Mars

Introduction: The Jezero impact crater hosted an open-basin lake [1] that was active during the valley network forming era on early Mars [2]. This basin contains a well exposed delta deposit at the mouth of the western inlet valley (Fig. 1) [1,3-5]. The fluvial stratigraphy of this deposit provides a record of the channels that built the delta over time. Here we describe observations of the stratigraphy of the channel deposits of the Jezero western delta to help reconstruct its evolution. Methods: We use orthorectified HiRISE images [6] and stereo-derived digital elevation models (DEMs) to map the channel deposit stratigraphy of the upper portion of the deposit (Fig. 1), which we interpret as the exhumed topset of the delta. We use HiRISE DEMs produced with the NASA Ames Stereo Pipeline [7-9] to extract quantitative characteristics of the geometries of the channel deposits.