Characteristics of pebble and cobble-sized clasts along the Curiosity rover traverse from sol 100 to 750: Terrain types, potential sources, and transport mechanisms

There are few clear links between clast type and terrain surface roughness (particularly in identifying terrain that is challenging for the rover to navigate). Orbital data may provide a reasonable prediction of certain end-member terrains but the complex interplay between variables that contribute to surface characteristics makes discriminating between terrain types from orbital data problematic. Prediction would likely be improved through higher-resolution thermal inertia data.