I was part of EVA-21 today who's prime mission was the first field science conducted using the CRV. We chose the cliffs above Muddy Creek at what we have called Da Vinci Lookout during our mission. I'm quite certain the top of the cliffs are the Curtis and you can see the reddish Entrada sandstone in the canyon walls below. Here are the coordinates of the lookout again:

Easting 523850, Northing 4252378

But that's not the story...

We went there today to test the CRV on the cliffs and while Remon and Mat were setting up, I had a chance to wander around and look at the rocks more since I was so intrigued by our first visit there. I have convinced myself anyway, that what I am seeing is a lag deposit from an eroded conglomerate lense that used to lie at or above the top of the hills just above the Curtis outcrop. It's chock full of what I think are older volcanics than what I reported finding in Coal Mine wash. I have samples of vesicular and more crystalline basalt, a reddish vesicular basalt (rarer, but still noticeable as you walk about), and obsidian. I didn't see anything like the diorite I had seen elsewhere.

Further, as you drive away from the cliffs, the deposit becomes less abundant (thinner?) and the rocks turn from cobbles to pebbles. I won't claim to be an expert in the rocks of this area, but in the reading I've done and the conversations (e-mail) I've had with the RST, there hasn't been any mention of older volcanics than what is found in the Henries and in the Aquarius Plateau, but I think there is evidence in the rocks scattered about this location.

If you can't tell, I'm pretty excited about this. I have pictures and samples and will try to put the story together better when I'm fresher. What I don't know is if there is a conglomerate at the base of the Summerville because I can't see it behind the talus (clay?) around the cliffs or if it's from a conglomerate lense that was in the Curtis. In any event, it's gone now and I think we're seeing what used to be in it.

Along the way, I completed my endolith sampling and continued gathering samples for the forward contamination study. Tomorrow I should finish the forward contamination study in a 2-3 hour EVA. For me, today was the best EVA yet.