• Waypoint 16: This location was a wide plain with the impassable (via ATV) mounds to the northwest. Vegetation was minimal. The terrain slightly undulating and was composed of a bed of red clay littered with boulders to the west. The boulders were layered red sandstone with an average diameter of several feet. Wind erosion was common on the rocks, and samples of the sandstone were collected. Across the 4WD road to the east no boulders were observed but the ground was littered with smaller pebbles. A large resistant rock outcrop was visible on the eastern horizon.
• Waypoint 18: A large sedimentary outcrop exists at this location. The caprock is consolidated red sandstone with bedding visible. Next is a layer of conglomerate (~2 inches thick) followed by more sandstone (~3 inches), and a thicker layer of conglomerate (~2 feet). The layering of the conglomerate at this site is less distinct than the conglomerate layers of Waypoint 11 from yesterday. The clasts are also not as well sorted and tend to be smaller in size than the clasts at Waypoint 11. Samples of the conglomerate rock were collected. Below the conglomerate is a harder white rock covered with a film (~1 inch) of softer flaky mudstone (green layer of ~4 inches width, red layer of ~4 inches width). The outcrop then continues down as it grades into rubble slumps at the bottom of the deposit.
• Waypoint 20: This site was reached via a narrow dried-up riverbed as ATVs were driven through the incised, gravel-laden channel. The riverbed was surrounded on all sides by smooth hills (smaller than the mounds previously seen closer to the Hab) and relatively flat plains composed of gray unconsolidated soil. The soil was barren and lacked vegetation as well as any larger rock pieces. No geologic outcrops were found in this region. A sample of the gray soil was collected from the wall of the canyon and is representative of the soil on the extensive plains/hills as well.
• Waypoint 23: A sedimentary outcrop faced a canyon at this location. Sandstone littered at the base of the outcrop showed evidence of much windblown erosion seen as pits and alcoves carved into the rocks. Alcoves ranged in size from less than one foot on the smaller rock fragments and were large enough for a person to enter on the main outcrop face. The capstone of the outcrop was mainly the red consolidated sandstone, but in places the conglomerate rock formed the uppermost layer. Similar to Waypoint 18, the sandstone was followed by several alternating layers of conglomerate rock, although the distinction between these layers was not extraordinarily sharp and often the layers of different rock types graded into one another. Likewise, the conglomerate clasts were not well sorted (similar to the conglomerate of Waypoint 18 but in contrast to the well sorted conglomerate of Waypoint 11). Cross-bedding was widely abundant in this outcrop at larger scales than previously observed. Ripple marks on the order of several inches in wavelength were beautifully exhibited as well. The cross-bedding, ripple features, and rock layering were digitally imaged and samples of the conglomerate rock as well as green, slaty, fractured rock fragments which were scattered along the base of the outcrop were collected.