Lithified aeolian strata encode information about ancient planetary surface processes and the climate during deposition. Decoding these strata provides insight regarding past sediment transport processes, bedform kinematics, depositional landscape, and the prevailing climate. Deciphering these signatures requires a detailed analysis of sedimentary architecture to reconstruct dune morphology, motion, and the conditions that enabled their formation. Here, we show that a distinct sandstone unit exposed in the foothills of Mount Sharp, Gale crater, Mars, records the preserved expression of compound aeolian bedforms that accumulated in a large dune field. Analysis of Mastcam images of the Stimson formation shows that it consists of cross‐stratified sandstone beds separated by a hierarchy of erosive bounding surfaces formed during dune migration. The presence of two orders of surfaces with distinct geometrical relations reveals that the Stimson‐era landscape consisted of large dunes (draas) with smaller, superimposed dunes migrating across their lee slopes. Analysis of cross‐lamination and subset bounding surface geometries indicate a complex wind regime that transported sediment toward the north, constructing oblique dunes. This dune field was a direct product of the regional climate and the surface processes active in Gale crater during the fraction of the Hesperian Period recorded by the Stimson formation. The environment was arid, supporting a large aeolian dune field; this setting contrasts with earlier humid depositional episodes, recorded by the lacustrine sediments of the Murray formation (also Hesperian). Such fine‐scale reconstruction of landscapes on the ancient surface of Mars is important to understanding the planet’s past climate and habitability.

中文翻译：

---

一张西伯利亚沙漠景观中复杂的风成岩的岩石记录：在穆雷比兹（Murray Buttes），大风火山口，火星上露出的史汀生构造

岩石风化地层编码有关古代行星表面过程和沉积过程中气候的信息。对这些地层进行解码可以提供有关过去泥沙运移过程，床形运动学，沉积景观和主要气候的见解。解密这些特征需要对沉积构造进行详细分析，以重建沙丘的形态，运动以及形成它们的条件。在这里，我们显示出一个独特的砂岩单元暴露在火星大风火山口的尖锐山下的山丘上，记录了在大沙丘场中积累的复合风成床形态的保留表达。对Stimson地层的Mastcam图像分析表明，它由交叉分层的砂岩床组成，这些砂岩床被沙丘迁移过程中形成的侵蚀边界表面层次所分隔。具有明显几何关系的两个阶的表面的存在表明，Stimson时代的景观由大沙丘（草）组成，较小的，重叠的沙丘在其背坡上迁移。对交叉分层和子集边界表面几何形状的分析表明，复杂的风态将泥沙运到北部，形成了倾斜的沙丘。该沙丘场是区域气候和由Stimson形成记录的Hesperian时期的一部分在Gale火山口中活跃的地表过程的直接产物。环境干旱，支撑着大片的风沙丘。这种设置与较早的潮湿沉积事件形成了对比，后者由Murray地层（也就是Hesperian）的湖相沉积物记录。