UNTIL A MARS MISSION SUCCESSFULLY COLLECTS AND RETURNS ROCKS TO EARTH INTERPRETING MARTIAN SURFACE FEATURES FROM 2D IMAGERY REMAINS THE ONLY WAY TO CATALOG SEDIMENTARY FEATURES THAT OCCUR ON THE PLANET. IN AN ISOTROPIC ROCK SAMPLE A HIGH-RESOLUTION 2D IMAGE WILL CAPTURE A GREAT DEAL OF THE CHARACTERISTICS RELEVANT TO INTERPRETING ITS ORIGIN. HOWEVER THE SAME MAY NOT BE ENTIRELY TRUE IN SEDIMENTS THAT ARE HETEROGENEOUS AT THE SCALE OF OBSERVATION. CONSEQUENTLY THE RESULTANT ANALYSIS COULD YIELD RESULTS THAT LEAD TO A SPURIOUS INTERPRETATION. ON THE SURFACE OF MARS THIS COULD LEAD TO INCORRECTLY IDENTIFYING SEDIMENTS OF AEOLIAN FLUVIAL OR SEDIMENT-GRAVITYFLOW DEPOSITION WITH EACH ENVIRONMENT CARRYING DISPARATE INFORMATION ABOUT THE AMOUNT AND ROLE OF LIQUID WATER INVOLVED DURING DEPOSITION. WE HAVE SUCCESSFULLY WORKED WITH MER MI IMAGES WHERE WE ADDRESSED TEXTURAL AND COMPOSITIONAL PROPERTIES OF MARS SEDIMENTS (SOILS) AND THEN PLACED THOSE RESULTS IN THE CONTEXT OF SIEVED AND SORTED LABORATORY-GENERATED BASALTIC SEDIMENT. THIS PROPOSALIS DESIGNED TO DETERMINE HOW WELL 2D IMAGERY CAN BE RECTIFIED WITH THE ACTUAL 3D SEDIMENTS WHERE WE CAN DETERMINE ALL THE SEDIMENT PROPERTIES BY DIRECT MEASUREMENT. FIRST THE PLAN IS TO CHARACTERIZE THE 3D TEXTURES (GRAIN SIZE SORTING ROUNDING SPHERICITY) ANDMINERALOGY OF ANALOG MARS-RELEVANT SEDIMENTARY ENVIRONMENTS AND IMPACT-PROXY BASALTIC SEDIMENTS (CRUSHED BEDROCK) SO THAT ALL BASE LINE DATA IS KNOWN. SECOND DIGITAL IMAGES AT RELEVANT MER (MICROSCOPIC IMAGER) AND MSL (MAHLI) RESOLUTIONS WILL BE TAKEN AND ANALYZED FOR TEXTURAL AND COMPOSITIONAL (AS BEST AS POSSIBLE) CHARACTERISTICS USING CONVENTIONAL PROTOCOLS. THE TWO DATA SETS WILL BECORRELATED TO ESTABLISH HOW WELL THE 2D IMAGERY IDENTIFIES REALITY. IN ORDER TO SIMULATE POSSIBLE MARS CONDITIONS IMAGES WILL BE TAKEN WITH DIFFERENT ILLUMINATION CONDITIONS AND DUST-COVER CONDITIONS. THE DATA COLLECTED FROM THIS PROPOSAL WILL BE USEFUL FOR CONTINUED ANALYSIS OF MER MI IMAGERY BUT MORE IMPORTANTLY RESULTS CAN BE APPLIED TO MSL AND ANY FUTURE MARS LANDER MISSIONS WHERE HIGHRESOLUTIONCAMERAS CAPTURE DETAILED SURFACE IMAGES. OUR ON-GOING PILOT WORK HAS DEMONSTRATED THAT TAKING THIS APPROACH HAS THECAPACITY TO REVEAL DETAILS ABOUT DEPOSITIONAL CONDITIONS AND THUS SURFACE PROCESSES. THIS TERRESTRIAL-ANALOG RESEARCH PROPOSED HEREIN DIRECTLY CONTRIBUTES TO A BETTER UNDERSTANDING OF QUESTIONS RAISED BY THE NASA DECADAL SURVEY IN PLANETARY SCIENCE AND GOAL III OBJECTIVE A OUTLINED THE MEPAG ANALYSIS GROUP WHICH SEEKS TO DETERMINE THE PROCESSES THAT HAVE CREATED AND MODIFIED THE MARTIANCRUST.