NASA’s Curiosity rover used its Mast Camera on 8 September 2016 to photograph the Murray Buttes region of lower Mount Sharp on Mars. These were its last images before it left the buttes and headed south and higher up the mountain.
The buttes and mesas are eroded remnants of ancient sandstone. Winds deposited the sand as dunes after lower Mount Sharp had formed. The dunes were then buried, chemically changed by groundwater, exhumed and worn down into today’s landscape.
The rock layers at the base of Mount Sharp built up as sediment in ancient lakes billions of years ago. On the mountain, Curiosity is studying how those habitable conditions changed into ones that were drier and less favourable for life.
via Mars Rover Views Spectacular Layered Rock Formations | NASA JPL